A Life Ironic
by claire83
Summary: What do you do when his forever didn't end up being yours? Eventual reunion fic, I am bad at summaries. Now Complete.
1. Chapter 1

**Original author's note: **So this is my first attempt at a Doctor Who fanfic, and my first attempt at fanfic in general in quite a long time. This idea has been floating around in my head for awhile now and I suddenly find myself with some uninterrupted time on my hands to write, so here goes… Please let me know what you think, I would love suggestions for the future, both story wise and to make my writing more palatable.

Going with what actually was shown on the show for canon at the end of Journey's End, so Rose and Alt 10 didn't have a baby TARDIS. (sorry)

Also, I am American, so British accents are somewhat beyond me, in speech and certainly in written dialogue. Might try a bit, but probably not effectively.

Hope you enjoy!

**New author's note:** In an attempt to get myself back into the groove of this story and continuing the sequel, I have been rereading the older chapters. As much as I know that writing without a beta leads to the kind of mistakes that I tend to make… I am still rather embarrassed by how very many typos and issues there are. So I am going to be very belatedly proofreading and updating all of these chapters.

The bad news with that is that if by some miracle, people are still following me hoping for updates… They will be disappointed to be getting no new content. The upside however is that doing this has spurred me on out of writers block and I am now writing new chapters for the sequel to this story. So if you all bear with me a little longer, you will hopefully be happy.

Also, I own nothing.

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><p><strong>Chapter one<strong>

Rose sat on the rather uncomfortable folding chair, staring at the ground in front of the podium that the priest stood behind. She let his words wash over her, not really discerning what was being said. She was simply experiencing the cadence of his speech, the rise and fall of his voice.

She turned her gaze to her hands in her lap, the flower she was holding, a stupid rose, was looking worse for the wear as she realized the had been clenching the hands holding it into tight fists. She consciously relaxed her fingers, numbly fascinated at the drop of blood that was welling up where a thorn had pricked her palm. It seemed she was jeopardy friendly even now, with a stupid flower.

She took a breath and let her eyes dart upwards for a moment, wondering how the sun could possibly be shining. How there could be birds singing. How the breeze could continue to blow through the leaves in the trees around them.

The sky should be weeping; the very universe itself should be grief stricken over what had happened. She felt offended, in a deep way that went beyond any paradox of time and space, this was wrong. The world couldn't just keep going.

It was unacceptable.

She was vaguely aware that the sermon had ended and felt physically stricken, as the group of people at the gravesite seemed to be holding in a collective breath waiting for her next actions. She stood jerkily and stepped forward, her head bowed and her eyes hidden behind the large black sunglasses she was wearing. She took another step and put the mangled flower she had been holding on the casket, her lips moving as she mumbled something. No words were actually forthcoming, but the tone must have been appropriate, as people didn't seem scandalized. Maybe they just thought that her grief had made her words unintelligible. And it had, her grief had stolen her words completely. She could think of nothing to say, and simply turned and blindly made her way back to her chair, sitting heavily and returning her gaze to the ground.

The people around her had started to move, a low murmur taking place as they mingled, having conversations in low voices. She ignored them, and people were uncomfortable enough around her in the best of times, that now, in the worst of them, they were content to leave her alone. Side benefit of being a freak, that. She sat, staring at her palm, at the small wound there and the little bit of blood, fixating on that as the area cleared. She was almost unaware of time passing; when she next looked up she realized that she was alone. The only people nearby were the workers, waiting to clear up the area.

She stood slowly, feeling so very old all of a sudden, deep within her bones as she made her way to the parking area. She reached into her bag for her keys and unlocked her car, sliding into the drivers seat and then just sitting there. She took off her sunglasses and stared into the sky, watching as the sun burst into a brilliant ball of color before settling, dropping below the horizon. She continued to sit and stare as twilight became full dark, the stars twinkling mockingly at her from above the earth.

Rose let out a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding and closed her eyes tightly, she was angry with herself for her lack of tears. She felt so desolate inside; so empty that she was sure she should be sobbing uncontrollably. It seemed to be almost disrespectful in her mind that she couldn't seem to cry. She had wept almost non stop when her mother had died, she had felt so adrift that the only thing anchoring her had been John's steady presence at her side, and the knowledge that he had felt Jackie's loss nearly as deeply as herself even if he would never have admitted it. She had been similarly inconsolable at Pete's funeral, only throwing herself into work, continuing to protect the earth and making sure that the power vacuum at Torchwood that he left behind had been filled had allowed her to continue with life. When her brother had been lost on a mission, her grief and anger had threatened to consume her. She thought it ironic really that the Oncoming Storm beside her had managed to calm her, to keep her from lashing out and making the universe feel her pain. They had made peace with that race; the misunderstanding of their first contact was now an example promoting caution and diplomacy.

Her head spun as she thought back on the people she had lost, culminating in him.

Her Doctor.

She had not accepted him easily, had wasted a stupid amount of time that they could have been happily together trying to convince herself that he wasn't really him. She regretted that, that wasted time, especially when they started to realize what was happening. She really was a stupid ape, her lips almost twitched, like they might just remember how to smile as she thought those words.

How ironic life was really. He had been so desperate to protect himself from the eventuality of her death, from feeling too deeply, and now she had been the one to watch him wither and die while she remained… unaging and undying, the small remains of the time vortex still swirling in her veins. She took a deep breath and started the car, listening as it purred to life, she sat a moment longer before putting it in gear and driving away. She went towards the office; where there was work always to be done that she could lose herself in. The Bad Wolf she was. And now she was alone.

The universe truly was a bitch.


	2. Chapter 2

**Original author's note: **Forgot to declare my lack of ownage, I am writing fanfic, so I obviously own no part of Doctor Who, or much else really. Just my mortgage. And my dog. Yay.

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><p><strong>Chapter two<strong>

Rose pulled into her designated space in the parking garage at Torchwood Tower and stepped out of the car. She walked purposefully to the lift, her heels clicking smartly on the pavement. She stopped at the doors of the elevator and waited with the small crowd, noticing their nervous glances at her. She did not acknowledge the general unease that people felt around her, but she did notice it. She knew that a lot of it had to do with the fact that she had been working for Torchwood, at what appeared to be her current age for decades. She was something of a legend, the battles she had been a part of, the historical milestones she had witnessed, been instrumental in even. She knew that at first her story had been something of a romantic myth, the woman trapped here from another world crossing universes to be reunited with her lost love and stop the stars going out. It likely would have remained a lovely fairy tale to people if she had had the decency to not simply… remain. Not that anyone would wish her gone.

Or dead.

Or anything like that really.

They simply found it creepy that she remained. To be completely honest, she found it rather disconcerting herself. She wondered sometimes if Jack felt that way after she had changed him, if he ever felt the overwhelming wrongness of it all. She imagined that he probably did.

She stepped onto the lift and opened her mouth to ask for her floor, then snapped it shut when she saw that it was unnecessary. Everyone knew what floor she worked on.

Pointedly ignoring the tension in the lift she slipped her phone out of her purse and flicked through her messages, her forehead creasing slightly in a frown as she skimmed down the list of contacts. She exited on her floor and ignored the almost tangible relief in the air behind her. She strode quickly down the corridor and swiped her badge to enter the outer area of her suite of offices.

At this late hour all was dark and she reveled in the peace. She went to the security pad at her office door and leaned in, letting it scan her retina and then placing her hand on the biometric scanner, passing through the door as it slid open. She stood for a moment, taking in the view through the windows, the lights of the city and the streaks of air ships flitting through the night sky. She stepped out of her high heels and padded silently over to stand with her hand on the glass, taking a moment to simply exist and to feel the impossibility of it all. Of her, and the life she had led, a simple shop girl from Powell Estate, crossing stars and time and dimensions to be standing looking out on this impossible scene. She closed her eyes at the overwhelming pain that stabbed through her heart at the realization that swept through her; she really truly was alone now.

Eventually she opened her eyes, still dry, but burning with a heat that she felt sure would be made better by tears. She turned from the window and sank into her office chair, turning to her computer and sweeping her hand on the sensor to turn it on. She signed in and opened the list of messages that she had started to look at on her phone. She frowned again, and reached out a hand to touch the name on the screen, feeling vaguely stupid for the gesture as she let her hand drop back to her desk. She leaned forward with her head in her hand, and her eyes closed briefly before she opened them and reached for the sensor pad, activating the message.

Rose inhaled sharply as the image appeared. She hit the pause and just stared at the computer for an unknown length of time. How like him, always needing the last word, even now, sending her a message from beyond the grave. She winced as she could almost feel her heart constricting in her chest, the pain nearly unbearable as she gazed at him, her eyes taking in every aspect of the face that she already had memorized. She inhaled deeply and took the message off pause, the pressure in her chest building as she took in his expression. He had on his glasses and was looking up at the camera at an angle, the tilt of his head so familiar. He was smiling softly, and opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, looking off to the side for a moment before turning back to look into the camera again. He smiled slightly and she took a rapid breath, holding it in as she waited for him to speak.

"Rose Tyler…" He paused and smiled at that, and she found herself smiling back at him, at the absurd pleasure he had always taken in saying those two words. "Rose Tyler… If you are watching this now then it means… Well, it means that the inevitable has happened. That I have… Well, that I have left you alone again. I'm sorry; I seem to keep doing that don't I? Nasty habit, that." He looked down for a moment and then back up, reaching his hand up to scratch the back of his neck in an achingly familiar gesture. He then ran his hand up, over the top of his head and she looked at his hair, still wild, still really great hair… the color of pewter now, instead of brown. She took in his gestures and the expressions crossing his face almost hungrily, aching for him. He cleared his throat and continued. "I want you to know that I have given this a lot of thought, and I am so glad to have spent my forever with you. I love you Rose Tyler, and I wouldn't have missed it for a thousand worlds."

He closed his eyes briefly and then opened them, preparing to speak again when she heard herself in the background, calling for him. He turned from the computer as she entered the room and crossed to him, leaning down to kiss him then pulling back just enough to rest her forehead against his. Rose watched as his hand reached up to tangle itself in the ends of her hair as he inhaled deeply. The Rose in the video leaned back, her eyes glancing off of the computer screen before being pulled inexorably back to his face as she placed her hand, her impossibly youthful and fresh skinned hand against his cheek. Rose could almost feel the sensation against her own palm, of his face, the skin thin and lined. She let out a breath that sounded suspiciously like a sob as she continued to watch.

"You about ready to eat? Have I got a surprise for you. You're gonna love it." The Rose in the video was smiling as she delivered those words, her tongue touching her teeth as she waited for his reply.

"Just a bit to finish up here, then I'll be down… Hints?" He looked at her, waggling his eyebrows hopefully and smiling.

Rose shook her head and smiled wider, "Nop-pe" She said, drawing the p sound out, teasing him. "Not a one. You'll just have to unplug and come downstairs. Honestly, I should check for a usb port in the back of your head or something, the way you are attached to this thing lately." She smiled again as she stood, her hand reaching out to ruffle his hair as she stepped away. "Try to hurry love, food'll get cold."

He smiled after her for a moment after the door had closed behind her before turning back to the camera. He smiled a slightly different smile at her, and she caught the sadness inherent in it, she sniffed slightly as he started to speak again. "I have been working on something, and I want you to really think about it Rose. I know you, and I think you will balk at this, but you shouldn't. Really you shouldn't. I have been researching ways for you to go home. Now don't do that." Her sharp intake of breath and frown coincided with his last statement and she found herself rolling her eyes at the fact that he had so accurately predicted her reaction.

He continued, "Just look over the research, hopefully I've gotten far enough to make it workable. You should go home, I know how miserable you will be alone in this place. And I refuse to leave you again like that… miserable and alone. So just try, right? I had better go then. It smells like you snuck some chips past Nurse Ratched." He winked at her and she smiled at his image. That was exactly what her surprise had been. "So then, if it's my last chance to say it… Rose Tyler… I love you." He smiled and had started to pull his wheelchair from behind the desk as the image went blank.

Rose sat and stared at the screen without actually seeing it for an unknown length of time, her mind wandering numbly. Eventually she came to herself and looked at it blinking as the sky was lightening outside. She saw the large file that was attached to the message, and guessed that it contained the research he had mentioned. She took a deep breath and closed the message before turning away. She would look at it, just not yet. She needed to think, and she needed to get ready for a hectic day of meetings. It seemed her life could never pause here. She stood and walked to the adjoining bath to freshen up and change out of her funeral clothes. Her mind numb and her face wet with tears that she didn't remember shedding.


	3. Chapter 3

**Original author's note: **Thank you to the people following this story, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Please review, let me know what you think.

Again, I own very little, least of all Doctor Who.

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

Three months had passed since the funeral, three months of 80-hour workweeks and hectic life. She wasn't sleeping much, and was eating even less. She could feel it beginning to take its toll on her body. She was losing weight and the circles under her eyes defied all attempts at concealment. Part of her wondered if it would be possible for her to simply waste away, and part of her definitely wanted to try.

Rose was sitting outside, on the ground with her back against the granite of his headstone. She could feel the engraved letters on her back through the jacket she was wearing. So few words to sum up a life, just names and dates. They said so little. She had her knees up to her chin and her arms wrapped around them, playing with the earpieces of her sunglasses as she talked to him. The wind was a bit cold today; winter was approaching. She looked at the leaves as they fell, the colors of autumn vivid against the very blue sky.

She had gotten into the habit of coming here, telling him about her week. She could almost feel his disapproval at her failure to look at his research into dimension hopping. But she knew that that was just in her head, her projecting what his feelings would be. And yeah, he would disapprove.

She played the conversation in her mind, explaining how busy she had been. She had brokered a major treaty, supplying some very promising technology that could be integrated into planetary defense. Very important work… And she was needed… She blew out a heavy breath as she imagined the look on his face, the steady stare that said he knew she was making excuses. She shifted almost guiltily and then laughed at herself, here having an imaginary conversation in her head with herself.

She supposed that she should take some comfort in the fact that she hadn't actually been voicing the conversation… Perhaps she hadn't gone completely 'round the bend. Rose stood and brushed off the seat of her pants as she turned to face the stone, she put her hand out, resting it on the coolness for a moment before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a banana. She smiled as she set it on top of the monument, knowing it was silly. And probably annoying to whomever had to clean up out here, but she couldn't seem to help herself. She sighed as she stepped back, hooking her thumbs in the back pockets of her jeans and just standing there for a moment, her eyes closed and her face turned to the sky, letting the sun warm it. She imagined that she could feel him in the warmth from the sun, like he was still there, reaching out to caress her face.

Rose opened her eyes and looked back down at the ground for a moment before speaking out loud. "All right then, I promise I'll look. Not promisin' any more than that yet, but I'll look." She nodded firmly and bit her lip, she reached a hand up to shove some of her hair out of her face as the wind picked up and seemed to give her hair a life of it's own. She put her hand out again, touching the stone for a brief moment, whispering, "I love you." before pulling her hand back and putting her sunglasses on as she turned from the grave and walked slowly back to her car.

Rose let herself into her house, looking around and taking a deep breath, she needed to get a smaller place maybe, something that wouldn't feel so very empty. She set her keys down on the hall table and walked across to the stairs, wondering idly if she should have the wheelchair lift taken out before putting the house on the market and decided to ask the realtor before doing anything. Maybe it would be a selling point, who knew. She climbed the stairs and entered his study, reaching over and flipping the lights on, inhaling deeply and closing her eyes.

She could still smell him in here, and the grief hit her like a palpable wave, causing her to sag against the doorframe for a moment before she straightened her shoulders and crossed to the computer desk. She knew that if she didn't do this now, that she probably wouldn't. She knew that she could distract herself with long workweeks and endless meetings and projects… just going through the motions of living.

She could almost see that timeline stretched out before her, the emptiness that would become her life. She knew that that was what he had been afraid of for her, and she knew that part of her, a small part that thought she might still deserve some kind of happiness and life feared it too. She sat at the computer, remembering the video, of the two of them here in this spot; she felt her eyes burning and closed them for a moment, resting. She opened them again and with determined movements switched on the machine, accessing her messages and looking at the screen, thinking.

She knew that she had a choice here, she could replay the video, she could wallow in her grief a bit, then go and pretend to live, be unable to do more than that… Or she could be brave, be what he saw in her. He would have been very disappointed in her if she just gave up.

With determination she moved the cursor away from the video and clicked on the attachments. Knowing that she needed to not allow herself to be weak here, the longer she went on like this, the easier it would get to continue. Rose knew that as appealing as that numbness was right now, that she needed to stop herself before it became too difficult to break that cycle. She leaned forward as she read the screen, skimming over the contents of the files, her forehead creasing as she looked over the data.

This could actually work. What was she saying? Of course it would work. He was brilliant after all.

Rose went back to the first file and started over, now reading carefully as she became more committed to this plan of action.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note:** I wanted to say thank you to Dreamcatcher49, AvenJackel, and Pilcrow for taking the time to review, totally awesome of you. :)

I own nothing, well, mostly nothing.

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><p><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

When Rose left her London office that afternoon she knew she wouldn't be coming back. She had quietly made arrangements for her departure, catching up on outstanding work and delegating away most of her responsibilities. She knew that most people assumed that she was finally going on some kind of holiday, and she hadn't told anyone of her actual plans, half afraid that someone would take issue with it. She was also rather determined to not have anyone follow in her footsteps; travel between dimensions was a bad idea for a reason.

Rose walked out of the building, feeling a lightness that she hadn't felt in some time, she had already changed out of her work clothes, and was wearing a pair of jeans and a t shirt, garnering some strange looks from people unused to seeing her in casual clothes. It was a beautiful afternoon, the sun was shining and it was warm. She had spent six months completing and testing the research John had left. Well, testing hypothetically, the real test would be whether or not she got where she was trying to go.

She got into her car and drove to make one last visit before starting her new life. Rose approached the grave and stepped up to the headstone, brushing some grass clippings from the granite. She clasped her hands together, resting them on the stone and took a deep breath before speaking, "I know this is silly, talking to this lump of rock like it's you… But I gotta admit, I'm going to miss it. Today is the day. I bet, if there is some place you are watching this from, that you are shaking your head a bit at how long this has taken me…" Rose smiled and shook her head before continuing, "Or maybe not. You know no one is as brilliant as you. I bet you wouldn't be out here chattering away at nothing. Or maybe you would. Quite a gob on you. Anyway… I just wanted to say good bye… and I love you."

Rose trailed off; feeling like there really weren't enough words that could be said. She took her hands off of the stone and shoved them in her pockets, standing for a moment with her head bowed before straitening and turning away. She walked back towards the car park, reaching a hand up to swipe at her face and wiping away some tears.

Rose sat in her car and took a deep breath before starting the three-hour drive to Cardiff.

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><p>Rose parked her car on the street and got out, she glanced around and was pleased to see that the area was relatively deserted. She opened the trunk and pulled out her bag. It had been interesting deciding what to bring with her. She had managed to get down to one bag, and still felt like she might be over packing. The damn thing weighed a ton. She dropped the bag to the pavement and pulled a black case towards her. She popped the lid and looked at the contraption inside, smiling at its appearance. It really did look like a Doctor original. Wires and bits all jumbled together. Rose took the device out and pulled it on her arm. She then picked the bag up and hefted it on to her back, clipping the straps in place. Rose shut the trunk and stepped away from the car, walking down the street at a quick pace.<p>

The last time she had been in this courtyard Rose had been in a parallel universe, and still a teenager. It was bizarre to think how much time had passed.

Rose walked to the water tower and stood there, she glanced up to where she knew the surveillance cameras were and smiled slightly at the freaking out probably going on in the Torchwood office here. Has to be a bit alarming to see the director of the organization standing outside. She lifted her arm and flipped up the small screen, fiddling with the dial below it and watching the read out. Rose wondered what kind of craziness would ensue once she had popped out of existence here. Probably going to cause one hell of a commotion. She shook her head, returning her thoughts to the task at hand. It didn't really matter. She watched the screen waiting for the right moment, thing about this was that she had no way of knowing -when- she would be once she got there. She worried some about that, but she new that the alternative was worse. She saw the display show what she needed, closed her eyes tight and hit the switch, gasping as she felt herself sucked out of reality.

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><p>Rose came to herself slowly, she felt like she had been hit by a truck, or maybe she felt like what had actually happened. Like she had been torn apart atom by atom and reconstructed elsewhere. She slowly realized that the reason her face felt rather odd was because she currently had it pressed against the pavement. Hard.<p>

Groaning, she tried to roll over, not getting very far as she was hampered by the pack on her back. She reached down, unbuckling the straps and struggling a bit to extricate herself from the bag, without complete success. It was caught on her arm. She sat up, slowly as she felt like the world was spinning way to fast around her. She looked down at her arm frowning at the sparks coming from the machine she had strapped to it. She was working at the fasteners, having difficulty, as she couldn't seem to get her eyes to work. This was ridiculous.

There was a noise to her left, someone clearing his or her throat a bit loudly and Rose looked up, squinting as the world was coming back into focus. There seemed to be three people standing around her pointing guns at her. She looked at them for a moment, and then smiled as she held her arm out. "This looks to be about to catch fire or something, a little help? Please?"

The people exchanged glances and she saw one of the women nod to the others before holstering her gun and stepping forward, saying as she approached, "No sudden moves then."

Rose nodded her agreement, keeping her free arm up where they could watch it as she held the other out to the woman. She grimaced as the device was jostled; it seemed to have melted a bit onto her arm. The woman backed away from her after it was off, still holding it and examining it. Rose pulled her arm out of the strap on the bag and lifted it, now holding both hands up, "Thanks… So… Hi there."

The four of them continued to look at each other, and Rose smiled at the absurdness of the situation. She shifted into a kneeling position, leaning back on her heels, her hands still in the air. The woman who had helped her get her arm free pulled out a pair of hand cuffs and gestured for her to stand, "We are going to need to take you into custody."

Rose nodded and stood slowly, holding her hands out, "Yeah, I figured. Torchwood?"

The woman raised an eyebrow at her, "I think we'll be asking the questions. Come along now." With that she turned Rose around, cuffing her hands behind her back. Rose winced at the pain as the metal bit into her burned wrist.

Rose sighed as she was led away, and tilted her head to the side as they came to stand in one particular spot on the pavement, she was pretty sure that this was -exactly- where the TARDIS had been parked. She stumbled slightly as the sidewalk began to descend, the woman behind her helping her remain steady. This was cool; they didn't have an elevator like this at the Cardiff branch in the other reality. She wanted to ask about it, but decided it would be prudent to keep her questions to herself for now. She tried to get an idea of when it was as she looked around on their way to a holding area, but didn't see much that could identify that.

The woman opened a cell and Rose stepped in, standing still as the cuffs were taken off and the door shut behind her. She turned to watch the woman walk away and frowned at the weevil in the cell across from her. She rubbed at her charred wrist absently and turned to sit on the cot against the wall, letting out a sigh.

Auspicious beginning here.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: **Thank you for reading and for taking the time to review, Dreamcatcher49, MaryMatthesen, scifigeekgirl, Ms. Hart, and intrepidfish.

I really like the cast and set in the first season of Torchwood, so since this is my imaginary pocket of time and space here, I am just gonna stick with that.

I haven't really decided yet which version of the Doctor Rose will eventually run into, I can see pros and cons for both 10 and 11. If anyone has an opinion, I would love to hear thoughts on the matter.

If I owned Doctor Who I would probably not be writing fan fiction.

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><p><strong>Chapter Five<strong>

Captain Jack Harkness was standing on the sidewalk staring at a paper coffee cup when Gwen Cooper found him. He was so engrossed in whatever was going on in his head that she actually had to reach out and grab his arm to get his attention. His head snapped up, "Sorry, what?"

Gwen looked at him oddly for a moment before speaking, "You all right there?" She glanced towards the cup he was holding, raising an eyebrow when he shifted it to his side.

"Fine. What's the problem?" He started walking towards the office and she walked with him, reporting on the strange events of the morning.

"Well, it seems we have had someone come through the rift. Temporal disturbance. Looks human, and tests seem to indicate that too. We were waiting for you to start questioning her."

Jack nodded and quickened his pace, not seeming terribly surprised. They entered the building through reception and Jack gestured for Gwen to precede him. She continued to throw some puzzled glances his way as she led him over to a bank of computers. She gestured at a monitor and explained. "All readings are relatively normal, slightly elevated energy signature, but Tosh thinks that could be residual radiation of some sort from her traveling from… well wherever she came from. We can't get any proper readings off of the machine she seemed to be using. Looks like the thing had melted to her arm a bit. It's fried." She pointed to the wrist device as she led him over to a table that had Rose's belongings set out on it. Jack nodded and looked at the collection of stuff.

"Has she said anything?" He reached his free hand out to the device and fiddled with the burnt out screen as he asked.

"She identified us as Torchwood, but other than that nothing of significance."

Jack nodded thoughtfully and turned from the table back to the bank of monitors. He looked at the security feed from the cells, not much to go on. The girl in question was sitting on the cot and seemed to be brushing her hair out with her fingers; he couldn't really see her face. He murmured something about her hair being darker before abruptly walking away from the computers and heading for the containment cells. Tosh glanced up at Gwen and looked at her curiously. "Did he just comment on her hair?"

Gwen nodded in reply as she watched Jack walk away. "Yeah. I think so." She shook her head and turned to watch the monitor, wondering what the hell was going on. Jack was acting strange, even for him.

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><p>Jack stepped up to the cell and stood there for a moment, watching the girl on the cot. He took a drink of his coffee and then spoke. "You changed your hair."<p>

Rose's head jerked up at his voice and she smiled widely, standing and crossing to the door in an instant. "Jack! God, you… I hoped I would see you, but… Well. Here you are."

Jack smiled back and opened the cell door, sweeping her into a hug. "I thought I might see you today." He stepped back, holding her shoulder with one hand as he eyed her. "You look different. And it's not just the hair." He reached out the hand still holding the coffee cup, gesturing at her eyes. "You look tired Rosie."

Rose smiled at him with a raised eyebrow, "I remember you being more charming than that. You must be losing your touch." She reached up and tucked her hair behind her ears as she thought about the rest of what he had said. "What do you mean by saying you thought you would see me today?"

Jack turned the coffee cup in his hand so that she could see the logo. Rose's eyes widened at the words, "Well, I guess it's still following me around then. Not really so surprising."

Jack nodded and looked at the words himself before gesturing Rose out of the cell. "I'm guessing you might be sick of sitting in here. Come on up to my office, and tell me what's got you looking exhausted and traveling through the rift."

Rose followed him, reaching back to pull her hair up into a ponytail as they walked. She scanned the large main room again as they passed through it, pleased to see her stuff there and looking no worse for the wear. She smiled inwardly at the slightly confused expressions she saw on people's faces as she went rather suddenly from mysterious prisoner to old friend of the boss. Jack gestured her ahead of him into his office and closed the door behind him before crossing over to sit in one of the chairs against the wall. Rose sat in the chair next to him and leaned back.

They looked at each other for a moment seriously before they both laughed and Jack spoke. "Well, I can't look at all serious and questioning. Not at you anyway."

Rose shook her head and grinned, her tongue touching her teeth, Jack smiled at the familiar gesture and shook his head. "Ok, so the last time I saw you, you were off in the TARDIS with the Doctor and Donna. With everyone looking pleased as punch over having just saved several universes. Fill me in here."

Rose took a deep breath and let it out slowly… This was going to take awhile. "That's gonna be a long story Jack. Don't suppose a girl could get a cup of tea or a coffee or something? Preferably caffeine… Or definitely caffeine."

Jack nodded thoughtfully and stood, "I'll be right back then." He set his coffee cup on the desk and left the room. Rose stared at the cup, and the words "BAD WOLF" stared back at her. She laughed ruefully and leaned back in the chair, resting her head against the wall and closing her eyes for a moment.

When Jack came back in the room carrying two cups of coffee, he looked at her and sighed. He set the cups down and took the blanket off of his cot in the corner, draping it over her. He stood for several moments looking down at her before turning out the light and leaving the room, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

><p>Rose woke up slowly, looking around as she sat up. She frowned and reached up to rub at the back of her neck, sleeping in a chair was not exactly the most comfortable thing to do. She stood, folding the blanket that was draped over her and setting it down on the chair. Rose opened the door and looked out, the main room was darker now. And empty.<p>

Rose walked to the railing just across from the office door and looked around. She saw Jack, he was standing in a small conference room, and he looked up as she approached. Rose paused in the doorway and smiled at him sheepishly. "Sorry 'bout that. How long was I out?"

Jack glanced at his watch and set down the papers he was holding, leaning back to sit against the table. "No need to apologize. If you could fall asleep in that chair, I'm guessing you needed it. Nine hours."

Rose nodded and stepped the rest of the way into the room, leaning back against the wall. "Well, I guess I must've. Haven't been sleeping much lately." She pushed her hands into her pockets and looked around the room before settling her eyes back on Jack. "When are we exactly?"

"July 14, 2010."

"Wow that's just… Been a while since I did the time travel thing. Bit surreal."

Jack nodded and stood up. He gestured for Rose to follow him and walked from the room. "There is most of a pot of coffee and some Chinese take out out here. What do you say we eat while you tell me what's going on? I mean, I didn't expect to see you again without the Doctor."

"Food sounds absolutely brilliant." Rose poured herself a cup of the coffee, raising an eyebrow at its very dark color. She sniffed it and grimaced. "That is just… No words. Ick." She poured creamer into the coffee hoping to dull the strength a bit. Rose spoke again as they walked back to the conference room. "How do you drink this? It's like tar." She took a sip as they settled at the table.

Jack rolled his eyes at her and passed her a fork. "Big baby. Now talk."

Rose took the fork and picked at the rice, she frowned as she contemplated where to start. "Well, let's see… The last time I saw you…" Rose paused for a moment, "I'm not with the Doctor because he left me. In the other world."

Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Are you serious?"

Rose nodded and put the fork down, reaching for the coffee and taking a drink before continuing. "You remember the metacrisis? Of course you remember the metacrisis… The Doctor, he left us there together. John, that's his name, he was part human. He was going to age." She looked up and saw as Jack understood what that would mean. She smiled sadly and went on, "I see you get it. I bet you can understand why he did it too. After what… After what I did to you."

Jack shook his head and interrupted her, "You didn't do anything TO me Rose. You saved my life. That's not something you need to feel guilty about. I don't blame you for this. But I guess I do know what you mean."

Rose smiled at him, "Means a lot, that you don't blame me. As for what I'm actually doing here, well, I understand too now. It's been quite a bit longer than two years for me. Since I last saw you I mean. It was time to come home, nothing left there for me anymore."

Jack stayed silent as he contemplated what she had said and he leaned forward thoughtfully. "So you're like me then? Because of what happened?"

Rose shook her head slowly, "No, not really. John said that he would've spotted that right at the beginning. You're a fixed thing… a fact of existence that time just flows around. I'm not. I'm just me, never even realized there was anything different about me until I was injured on a mission, got shot by a compact laser. I should've died, but when I was unconscious there was this… burning, intense burning like my soul was on fire, and music, like the TARDIS song. I woke up and I was fine. Not a mark on me. And it didn't stop there, time passed, my mum, Pete…" Rose's throat worked and she bent her head for a moment, she cleared her throat before going on. "Well, here I am." Rose smiled at him, the expression not quite meeting her eyes. She picked up her fork and pushed the rice around on her plate.

Jack nodded thoughtfully and sat back in his chair, "When it happened… You managed to destroy an entire army of daleks. Can you still… " He trailed off and looked at her questioningly.

Rose shook her head, "No. I think sometimes I can almost remember what that felt like, to have that power, to feel time coursing through me, but humans aren't meant to have that. Even the actual memory of it is out of reach aside from that small glimpse. I think that's probably a blessing."

Jack murmured his agreement with that assessment. "So those funny energy readings, that wasn't just from traveling?"

"No, I give off faint radiation. Still a bit of the TARDIS in me. It's the same energy you would pick up off of her. Harmless, not anything that affects people around me."

Jack stood suddenly and walked towards the door. "Sit tight a minute. I'll be right back."

Rose nodded and watched as he went to his office and came back carrying a bottle. She smiled as he held it up and gestured to it. He said, "I think we could both use a drink." He sat down and poured generous amounts of the whiskey into their empty coffee cups. Rose took hers and they mockingly clinked glasses before drinking.

Rose made a face as she swallowed. "God, I think I can still taste the coffee there." She held out her cup for more.

Jack smiled at her expression and obliged her, pouring them both another drink. "So what are your plans? Going to look for the Doctor?"

Rose tossed back the drink and shook her head. "No… I don't know what I want to do." She reached for the bottle herself and poured again. "Honestly, I hadn't really planned ahead much beyond the trip."

"Well, considering your experience, and of course," Jack smiled winningly at her and winked, "Your in with the boss, you could have a place here."

"I don't think so Jack. Been working a million hours a week at Torchwood for decades now. I actually think I want a break." Rose smiled gratefully as he poured another drink for them both and leaned back, "I want to sit around and watch daytime television, read trashy novels, and eat chips." She lifted her cup in a mock toast and drank.

Jack shook his head, still smiling. "Well sure, it sounds good now, but I know you. You've traveled the stars. You're going to have a hard time settling for talk shows and chips."

Rose shrugged, "Probably, but I'll last a while I bet."

* * *

><p>Two hours later saw them laughing rather drunkenly at an adventure Jack was recounting from his days as a time traveling "freelancer". He was actually standing as he imitated the posture of a Judoon commander he had nearly been arrested by. Rose laughed even harder as Jack tripped and almost fell over, knocking over a stack of files he had been going through earlier.<p>

Rose leaned towards him to see if he needed a hand and noticed an artifact on the table. It had been under some of the file folders and was now out in the open. She stood and stepped to that end of the table, leaning down to look at it more closely. It was a rectangular piece of silvery metal, crisscrossed with black writing and symbols. She turned to look at Jack as he steadied himself and stepped over to her. He smiled, "It starts already. Told you that you wouldn't be able to settle for normal."

Rose stuck her tongue out at him, but had to admit to herself that he was probably right. "What is it?"

Jack shrugged, "We don't really know. We have some translation programs working on the symbols. It doesn't give off any readings. Came through the rift last week." He reached out and picked it up, dropping it like a hot potato as it suddenly lit up and made a clicking noise. "That would be new."

Rose looked at him sharply and leaned down to it, "The markings actually look a bit familiar. They look sort of Gallifreyan…" Rose jerked her head up and met Jack's eyes. "Have you ever touched this before?"

Jack shook his head, "No, I haven't been the one working on this. What are you thinking?"

"If those symbols are… It could be… You know I've seen some Time Lord technology, it could be activated by…"

Jack interrupted her, "Artron radiation. That would mean I just activated something we don't actually understand."

Rose nodded and stepped back from the artifact. It was really making noise now, the clicks had increased in rhythm and the symbols were moving. "Maybe we should leave or something, yeah?"

Jack grabbed her arm and started to pull her after him out of the room when there was a louder click and the device popped open, the top sliding back and a gaseous cloud emanating from it, coalescing in the air and hovering there for a moment before darting towards them. Rose was pulled from his grasp as the gas cloud enveloped her, then it almost seemed to make a screeching noise as it left her suddenly to dart at him. He was aware of Rose dropping to the ground before he staggered back at the force of the gas as it hit him. He struggled against it as it held him in place, then he lost consciousness as his world went black.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: **Thank you for reading, and thank you to Dreamcatcher49, scifigeekgirl, Corca, and Terra Young for taking the time to let me know what you think.

I do not own Doctor Who or anything connected to it… Sadness.

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><p><strong>Chapter Six<strong>

Rose sat up slowly and looked over to where Jack was sprawled on the ground. She had felt the assault on her senses and had felt the frustration of whatever entity was hidden in that gas cloud as it left her so suddenly. Apparently already being ridden by something more than human didn't make you a desirable host. She had hit her head pretty hard on the ground as she was tossed aside and it took her a moment to gather her wits enough to move over towards Jack.

She glanced around the area, not seeing the gas cloud and as she approached him she became more and more convinced that that was because the being… whatever it was, was now in him. This was definitely not good. Rose came to kneel beside him and reached out, feeling for a pulse. It was there, nice and steady. She also noticed that his skin was burning up. She leaned down to look into his eyes, and as she reached to push his eyelids up, she was startled when his eyes snapped opened and he looked her directly in the eye.

Rose opened her mouth to speak but was cut off instantly as Jack's hand had shot out and grabbed her by the neck. She reached her hands up, trying to pry his choking fingers off as he stood, taking her with him. He paused there for a moment, looking around as though trying to get his bearings before throwing her across the room with nearly super human strength. Rose hit the wall and felt the safety glass behind her give as she impacted it; the star burst pattern spreading behind her as she slid down the wall. She watched as the thing that was definitely NOT Jack left the room. Rose stood slowly, and limped to the doorway, her leg not quite working right, she thought her knee might be dislocated. She watched as Jack crossed the large main room, moving like he knew where he was going.

She realized that he was heading for the elevator and moved into action, knowing that him getting out would likely be a pretty bad thing. She raced over towards Jack's office, looking on her way for any kind of panic button, muttering under her breath about big red buttons and how underused they were.

She came to a panel on the wall and started randomly smacking the buttons on it, cursing, as nothing seemed to happen. She reached for the edges and pried the covering off of the panel as she watched Jack stepping onto the slab of concrete. Rose grabbed for a bunch of wires and pulled out a random handful, letting out a relieved breath as the computer seemed to take that as an attack of sorts and the lights dimmed ominously, as the base went into lockdown. The Jack-thing let out a deafening screech as the elevator stopped moving and it turned to look at her. She met its eyes and gulped.

"Bloody hell." She wished she had thought of a way to lock it inside, preferably -without- her being locked in with it. Rose scrambled back to the conference room and swiped the artifact off of the table, forcing it into her pocket and then leaving the room. She needed her sonic screwdriver. She looked to where her belongings were spread out on a table and then looked at Jack; she needed to get him to chase her away from the table before circling back to it.

Rose and Jack were on opposite ends of the room and eyeing each other warily, Rose made a feint in one direction and felt some triumph as Jack seemed to take the bait, he came barreling towards her as she turned and vaulted the railing, almost falling as she landed on the leg that had been injured when Jack tossed her into the wall. She rushed to the table and pushed through her belongings, hearing him getting closer as she searched for the screwdriver. Her fingers closed on it and she twirled around, moving to the side and just out of his reach as he came running towards her. Jack hit the table hard, collapsing it under his weight and scattering her belongings.

He clumsily extricated himself from the table and she backed away, the two of them eyeing each other carefully. Rose watched as he seemed to be gathering himself to run at her again and pointed suddenly behind him, "Look a bear!"

She made a disgusted noise at herself for the stupidity of that statement, but stopped as he whirled around. Well… never thought that would work.

She turned on her heel and ran, ignoring the pain in her leg as she went towards what she sure as hell hoped was an exit. She went through a gate and snapped it shut behind her, activating the screwdriver at the lock on it before turning to the big round door beyond.

She winced as Jack hit the gate, rattling it alarmingly and using brute strength in an attempt to force it opened. She looked over her shoulder once, ascertaining that he was probably going to succeed before turning the screwdriver to the door, using it on the lock. She inhaled sharply in relief as the lock disengaged and she forced the door open, struggling with the weight as she rolled it out of place. She slipped through as soon as it was opened wide enough and pulled it shut, just in time as Jack wrenched the gate opened and threw himself at the door, screeching in frustration.

Rose used the screwdriver to lock it quickly and sagged against it in relief for a moment before turning around with her hands up as she heard a gun being cocked behind her.

"We really need to stop meeting this way." Rose tried to joke as she looked at Jack's team spread around the room in front of her.

None of them were smiling.

* * *

><p>An hour later Rose was standing against the counter in the reception area as Toshiko Sato spoke on the phone with someone, trying to get an idea of what the markings on the device might actually mean. They had taken some readings from the inside of it and found that the creature was composed of gases that would likely burn if exposed to direct flame.<p>

Rose watched the group work as they brainstormed ideas for getting the thing out of Jack so that they could take it out and they seemed to have forgotten that she existed. She supposed she should just be happy to not be in handcuffs. Rose winced as a noise came from inside the building, Jack was still trying to get out, and seemed to be depending mostly on brute strength, the thing really wasn't too bright.

Rose moved closer to the group and spoke up, "You know, it would probably get out of him if he was dead." She blinked slightly at the looks directed towards her at that statement, and she wondered briefly how much they knew about Jack.

The one that had introduced herself as Gwen spoke up, looking around at the others before directing her comment to Rose. "Probably. But then it would just go into one of us, we need to figure out how to get it out and keep it from taking another host."

Rose nodded and pointed out, "It didn't want me. If I'm the only other one in there it won't have a chance to take anyone else before we ignite it."

Owen Harper spoke up, "We don't know for sure that it won't take you. Maybe it just thought Jack was tastier."

Rose shook her head thoughtfully, "No, I don't think that's it. I don't think it can take me… I've already got an… extra passenger of sorts." She took in the wary looks she got at that and smiled slightly. "Come on, you lot work for Torchwood, that's not that strange of a statement."

Gwen nodded slowly, "You have a point. But I would really like to know what this thing is before we just kill it. The situation might be what's made it hostile."

Rose had to admit that that was true and she looked over at Tosh, wondering what her progress had been so far on the markings. She looked back at the others, " It doesn't really seem to capable of reasoning. No attempts at communication. Just throwing itself at the door. And we don't know how long we CAN wait. This thing could be compressing Jack's psyche, I know that he'll last physically, but mentally…" She trailed off meaningfully.

The others seemed to be thinking along the same lines and the group slowly migrated over to stand by Toshiko, they all knew that whatever she was able to find out, they needed to act quickly.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: **Thank you for reading, and thank you to scifigeekgirl, and Maddie for reviewing.

I own nothing

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><p><strong>Chapter Seven<strong>

Tosh finally hung up the phone she had been using in frustration. She didn't know anything more than she had before she had spent nearly two hours on the phone. She glanced over at the team, Ianto was pacing nervously, obviously bothered by the lack of progress and Gwen and the new girl, Rose, were standing near the door speaking to each other in low voices. Owen was sitting in a chair, looking more relaxed than he probably was as he fiddled with the device that had caused all of these problems. Rose had looked over to her and their eyes met as Toshiko moved from behind the counter to join the group.

"I've talked to everyone I could think of to try to get some kind of translation, but frankly, we just don't have a clue. Gallifreyan isn't in our database and the people we have contact with who might know… Well, Martha and Mickey, neither of them recognized any of the symbols, and Jack is in there." She gestured at the door weakly.

Rose nodded thoughtfully then asked, "What about Donna Noble?"

Tosh frowned as she remembered that conversation. "When I contacted her… She seemed to have absolutely no idea what I was talking about."

"Well that's… Odd. But we definitely have more pressing matters." Rose reached over and plucked the device out of Owen's hand, turning it and frowning at the symbols, almost as if she thought she could force them to make sense by scowling at them.

Owen looked like he might protest at her grabbiness, and then rolled his eyes instead. "I'm guessing it's alien for 'do not open'."

Gwen gave him a withering look before turning back to Rose and Tosh. "Well, we need to do something, and quickly. Your idea for getting it to leave him is probably the best, but we can't send you in alone to take it out. You're already injured and something could go wrong."

Rose frowned at her, "But we can't risk it getting into someone else. That's a huge risk."

"No offense, but it's not really your call to make." Gwen looked around the room, looking at everyone in turn before speaking again. "We'll send Rose here in and one of us."

Ianto interrupted her, "Me. I want to go in."

Gwen looked at him for a moment before nodding. "All right Ianto. It'll be the two of you then. Let's get to work on a plan."

* * *

><p>Rose checked the buckles on her rappelling gear and slapped Owen's hand away as he reached for one of the straps.<p>

He grinned up at her, "Just trying to help."

Rose chose not to respond to that as she gestured to the elevator. "I think you're supposed to be opening that."

Owen smirked and turned to the elevator, working the controls with his laptop. He leaned away as the panel slid opened. He smiled at her cheekily. "Open sesame then."

"Thanks." Rose stepped to the edge of the opening and took a deep breath, "Wish me luck." With that she dropped down into the hole in the sidewalk. Rose came to a stop about ten feet from the floor. She hung there for a moment, and saw that Jack was still at the door, trying to muscle his way through. He wasn't looking too hot.

She cleared her throat loudly and was satisfied that he came barreling towards her, as was the plan. The door slid opened behind him and she saw Ianto enter the base, carrying a small blowtorch. He stuck to the shadows as he came silently farther into the room; the door had slid shut behind him.

Rose started swinging on the rope and waited until she had some good momentum before unclipping her harness and flying through the air. Rose landed rather ungracefully and barely made it to her feet before he got to her. She darted to the right, Jack close behind her. She managed to maneuver so that a railing was between them and she stopped, holding her hands up, trying to gesture for him to stop. The two of them stood there eyeing each other warily. Rose spoke slowly, trying to give the creature a chance to leave on it's own before they acted. "Now, you might not realize this, but all this stuff you're doing… It's not exactly… Nice." Rose winced at the ridiculousness of that statement. "Right, so… Get out?"

Jack snarled at her, and Rose sighed heavily. "Right then. Worth a try. Sorry 'bout this Jack." Rose reached behind her drawing a pistol and shot Jack through the heart. He fell like a tree and Rose dropped the gun as she moved to his side, waiting for the gas to leave him. It needed to hurry if it was going to be tricked by Jack's temporary death. She let out the breath she had been holding as it suddenly shot out of him and came at her. She saw Ianto approaching and unfortunately so did the cloud of gas. It turned from her and went for him; he was holding the blowtorch in front of him and had activated it. He was holding the flame out in front of him and Rose thought it odd that the thing didn't even pause. Would be bad if they were wrong about it being flammable.

Rose reached into her pocket slowly, drawing out the device that had started all of this. She wasn't sure why she had brought it with her; she had simply felt compelled. She felt the time around her as it slowed. The cloud of gas was approaching Ianto and he was slowly raising the torch in his hand, his face growing more panicked, as it had no effect. Jack had started to stir on the ground next to her, talking a gasping breath as he sat up suddenly. Rose looked at the box in her hand and she saw that the letters and symbols were moving again, she cradled it in both of her hands, just gong with instinct as she lifted it up to her face, out of the corner of her eye she saw Ianto drop the torch and try to stumble away from the cloud as it engulfed him.

Rose felt time stutter to a stop, a part of her noticing and worrying about it; this was not normal. And it was probably not an entirely good thing. She took a breath and blew into the device. The part of her that was worried already became more alarmed when the stream of air that had come from her seemed to shimmer and sparkle gold. The device clicked and whirled as time sped back up and the cloud screeched back towards her, it seemed to hover for a moment in the air before it was sucked back into the little box and shut inside.

* * *

><p>Jack was happy for his quick reflexes as Rose seemed to crumple in place, he caught her before she could hit the ground and looked warily at the little benign looking box that had fallen from her hands. He looked up as Ianto came at him, opening his arms and hugging him awkwardly around the unconscious woman in his arms.<p>

Ianto stepped back from him and looked down at her, "What happened?"

Jack shook his head and hefted Rose over to one arm, lifting his other hand to touch her skin. She was burning up. "I'm not really sure. Can you get the others in here and get the power back on? And -don't- let anyone touch that box!" He walked towards his office still carrying Rose, when she opened her eyes suddenly.

"Put me down, Jack." Her voice had an odd echoing quality that made him nervous. He complied and looked at her carefully as she leaned against the wall. She looked up and met his gaze; he was startled to see flecks of gold in her eyes that hadn't been there before.

"You shot me." Jack pretended to be offended, and smiled when she rolled her eyes at him.

"You can thank me later."

Jack noted, with no small amount of relief that her voice seemed to regain its normal tone as she spoke those words. He looked down to the device where it had landed when she dropped it, and then looked back at her. "So what happened there?"

Rose frowned slightly and her eyes took on a far away quality that seemed to look beyond what was in front of her. Her voice started out small, nervous, but gained confidence as she continued when she answered him. "I think it was Bad Wolf. I haven't been around Time Lord technology in a very long time. I guess the situation called for action, and she knew what to do when I didn't. Bound to happen a little I suppose, when I am around something that responds to her."

"You talk about it like it's not you." Jack thought he made a pretty good show of not sounding unnerved when he made that comment, but swallowed nervously when she looked at him and her eyes had taken on an… ageless quality.

"That's because she isn't. Not really. She is me and she isn't. All at the same time." Rose stared off into space for a moment then smiled at him and it was like a spell was broken, like all was normal and had always been. "Let's not do anything like that again, yeah? Shooting you, not fun. Well, not usually." She grinned at him and he smiled back, letting any residual worry settle to the back of his mind to be forgotten.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note: **Thank you for reading, and to answer a question from the lovely reviews, the Doctor will be putting in an appearance soon (like down the page a bit), but it's gonna be a bit before the actual reunion. I kinda enjoy drawing it out. Because I'm mean. That's what my husband says anyway.

Thanks to Dreamcatcher49, JollyRoger1, IchikoKitsuneKoumori, and Angelic Toaster for reviewing.

**Chapter Eight**

Rose was sitting in a chair in Jack's office, she was going to be going to London for a couple of days and had stopped in to say good-bye. She had settled into a relatively relaxed routine in the month since she had come back to this universe. She didn't spend ALL of her time watching daytime television as she had joked that first night with Jack, but she was definitely taking it easy. Jack had helped her get her identity back, so she wasn't officially dead anymore, and she had converted quite a lot of money into items that were readily sellable for her trip here. So she had a respectable sum of money to live off of. She had rented a nice flat and had taken her time furnishing it, enjoying the simple act of shopping and picking out what she liked. She had spent so much time working in the months leading up to her trip back, partly to accomplish the nearly impossible trip, and partly to distract herself from her overwhelming grief, that even grocery shopping seemed like a novel and fun thing to be doing.

She rolled her eyes at something Jack had said, she knew that it amused him greatly that his team mate Owen seemed determined to hit on her. She sipped the tea she had brought with her. A month and she still thought that Jack's version of coffee was something she never even wanted to try getting used to. "D'you think it would turn him off if I told him I was old enough to be his grandmother?"

Jack smirked at her, "Honestly, I doubt it." He leaned back in his chair and tapped a stack of file folders that were sitting on the corner of his desk. "Still enjoying your talk shows? Got quite the back log here, if you're interested."

Rose shook her head at him and stuck out her tongue, "Not watching talk shows you git, I am all about what not to wear." She grinned at his expression. "I keep waiting for a guest to have a laser hidden -somewhere- in case of emergency, like impending pant suit-edness."

"Impending pant suit-edness? Is that really by definition an emergency?"

"Oh yes, definitely. Pant suits are simply dreadful." Rose smiled at him as he rolled his eyes and turned her wrist to check her watch. "Ooh, I'm gonna be late. Train to catch." She tossed back the rest of her tea and threw the cup away as she stood. She grabbed her bag off the ground and slung it over her shoulder. "I'll think about the work thing when I get back. Honest."

Jack stood as well and came around the desk to pull her into a hug. "Say hey to Mickey and Martha for me. And tell them congratulations." He made a stern face and pointed a finger at her as he said, "And be careful."

"Right dad, thanks." Rose grinned at him, her tongue touching her teeth as left the office to catch her train.

A few hours later Jack was sitting at his desk reading when an alert sounded on his computer, he dropped the file in his surprise and leaned forward, checking the information on the alert. The TARDIS had just materialized in the area. He wanted to roll his eyes at the timing of that, of all the times in the last two years for the Doctor to put in an appearance, it would have to be today. Now. Only hours after Rose had left.

Jack stood and grabbed his coat, stopping at the safe in his wall and opening it, pulling out the miserable device that had caused all that trouble a month ago. Rose had been pretty convinced that the writing was Gallifreyan, and as far as he was concerned, the Doctor could have the damn thing.

Maybe he would be able to tell Jack what had happened there at the end. He was still worried about Rose. She had brushed away his concern, but he could tell that it had in fact unnerved her. He had had Tosh analyze the readings in the room and there had been a spike of that odd radiation that followed Rose around. It had evened out, he had surreptitiously had her scanned when she visited the office and was happy to see that the levels had returned to what was apparently normal for her. But her eyes… the flecks of gold that had swirled in them, they had faded, but he could still see them sometimes when he wasn't quite looking. It was odd, like someone else peeking out from behind his friend's gaze.

Jack dropped the package with the device in it into his pocket and set off for the coordinates of the TARDIS.

The Doctor in question had parked the TARDIS in Cardiff for some much needed energy, he had dropped the Ponds off for some "alone time" and then left to his own devices for awhile decided that a pit stop in Cardiff could be done on his own, since he didn't think Amy would be too keen on an adventure here of all places. No one was ever too thrilled to be on an adventure in Cardiff. Considering the times he had had here, he supposed he really couldn't blame them.

After another happy landing the Doctor swung away from the console and hopped down below the grating deciding to do some tinkering. The old girl had been acting a bit funny the last month or so, and perhaps some of his own brand of randomly sparking wires together would put the spring back in her step. He wondered what was up and had settled on the swing under the console muttering to himself under his breath something about indigestion when there was a knock on the doors. He also heard a decidedly familiar voice calling his name.

The Doctor sighed and supposed that there really was no helping it. The last time he had tried to avoid Jack, the tenacious American had clung to the outside of the TARDIS all the way to the very end of time; definition of stubborn right there. The Doctor stood and bounded up the stairs coming to a stop by the console, snapping his fingers and sending the doors open. He stood there almost feeling nervous, this was the first time he had come across an old companion with his new face. That was always a bit awkward. As always in moments of possible awkwardness the Doctor turned to the console and busied himself, fiddling with the controls with complete confidence that he looked like he meant to be doing exactly what he was doing. The TARDIS brushed his mind almost with a sense of relief and he looked at the console oddly. He hadn't realized that she liked Jack that much.

Jack leaned in the opened doors glancing around, the doors opening on their own was a new thing, and as he looked around he saw that that wasn't where it stopped. He stepped inside taking in the new look, his eyes scanning the room and coming to rest on the man by the controls. That was new too. "Long time no see Doc."

The Doctor turned to face him and smiled slightly with his head inclined, "So it has. Been a busy year, lots to do. Ran into an older you, still looking good. And how have you been?"

"Well enough. I see you remodeled." Jack came farther into the room and came to a stop, leaning against a railing a few feet from the Doctor.

The Doctor nodded emphatically and gestured with his hands encompassing the room before spinning around to hit a couple more controls on the console, ignoring how she murmured at his continued random button pushing. "Well, I kind of exploded the room. It was time for a change. Long overdue really."

Jack nodded, looking at him thoughtfully. Faced with a Doctor who had regenerated he really wasn't sure what his course of action should be as far as Rose was concerned. He looked around again, "You traveling alone? Where's Donna?"

He saw the Doctor pause his frenetic movements around the console for a moment before continuing. "She's home. Married, happy ever after and all that." The Doctor continued to hold himself slightly tense, waiting for Jack to ask about Rose. When Jack went on without doing so, the Doctor wasn't sure whether he was relieved or disappointed.

Jack thought there might be more to it than that. But he just nodded and reached into his pocket. "So, I came out here to give this to you. Came through the rift awhile back, caused one hell of a commotion. It's activated by artron radiation, found that out the hard way. Thought you might like to have a look at it." He dropped the package onto the jumpseat and then pushed his hands into his pockets, feeling awkward now that he wasn't sure what to do. "Well, I just wanted to give that to you." He paused, waiting for the Doctor to say something to carry the conversation, rolling his eyes and rocking back on his heels when he didn't. "Alright then. It was good to see you. Don't be such a stranger. Love the bow tie."

The Doctor turned from the console to smile at Jack, "Bow ties -are- cool. It was good to see you too Jack." The Doctor put his own hands in his pockets and watched as Jack left the TARDIS. He glanced questioningly at the control console at the disappointed feeling she seemed to be expressing. He had turned away from the screen to return to his repairs down below mere seconds before the words "Bad Wolf" flashed momentarily across the screen. He only knew that the TARDIS seemed to be more bent on burning him than usual in her frustration.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's note: **So there have been a couple of questions about the Torchwood characters I have chosen to include. I know that several of them should be dead at this point in time, but I don't like that. And since fanfiction exists to make things the way YOU like… I decided to make them alive. So yeah. That's that.

**Original author's note: **Very big thanks to JollyRoger, scifigeekgirl, NIM, and Hopecohen for reviewing.

My updates will be slowing down a bit, off of vacation so daily isn't gonna really be possible. I plan to keep to once or twice a week, real life, sadness. Hope everyone continues to enjoy this. It is going somewhere, I'm just meandering a bit on the way. Thoughts and suggestions are always welcome.

I don't own Doctor Who, which is kinda tragic to me.

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><p><strong>Chapter Nine<strong>

Something was causing temporal disturbances and missing people. Something was definitely not right and Jack and his team had been trying to figure out what it was for days. Jack was standing looking at the map they had on the wall, charting the incidents and trying to discern a pattern. He had his arms crossed as he looked over the information, waiting for inspiration. He saw Rose walk into the office out of the corner of his eye and dropped his chin to his chest for a moment, closing his eyes. Damn. He had really meant to figure out what to tell her about the Doctor, but had been completely sidetracked by this case. They needed to figure out what was happening. Then he and Rose could have a talk.

Rose crossed to Jack and smiled at him, she noted that his answering smile was a little on the weak side, but looking at the map she decided it must have something to do with what he was working on. "What's all this? Big case?"

Jack blew out a heavy breath and nodded. He gestured to the map with one hand and spoke, "Temporal disturbances, missing people. No witnesses. So basically…"

"You got diddly?" Rose leaned closer to the map, reading the notations on the individual incidents. "Missing people really means missing people here, huh? No sign they were even there."

"Yeah. Makes no sense. No discernible pattern. If it weren't for the residual radiation from the temporal disturbances in the areas the missing people were last reported to be, this wouldn't even be our case." Jack watched as Rose looked over the board with interest. She seemed to be thinking something. Jack waited for her to speak and when she didn't he asked, "You have any ideas? Anything you've seen before?"

Rose frowned and turned to him. "Maybe… But I think I would like to see some of these places before I guess."

"Well, I could have Owen take you to see the crime scenes." Jack said with a grin.

Rose stuck her tongue out at him, smiling and then shook her head, her face returning to its previous pensive expression. "I can handle driving around a bit on my own. If this is what I think it is…. This could be very bad Jack. Like, epic bad."

Jack looked at her face and nodded, "Right, well, take Gwen with you. Epic bad is not a time to be going around solo." Rose nodded and started to walk away. He called after her, "This is you agreeing to work with us now, right?" He grinned as she turned around and rolled her eyes at him. As she and Gwen left the building, he was back to staring at the map.

* * *

><p>Rose slid out of the car at the last of the crime scenes and looked around, her growing fears confirmed. She gazed at the church that they were parked next to. Creepy statues again. Gargoyles mostly, but enough variety that the angel would be able to go unnoticed long enough to stalk it's victim. So far at the scenes she hadn't seen the angel. They would have to search for it. Or try to figure out a pattern, see if there was a place it was basing itself from.<p>

She walked over to the fence surrounding the small churchyard and leaned against it, looking over it at the space, looking for the angel. She felt more than saw Gwen walk up beside her and came away from the fence, eyes scanning the area as she turned to her. "You see a pattern here?"

Gwen nodded, looking around, her expression slightly puzzled. "You seem to be a bit interested in the statues."

Rose nodded and walked back to the car, "Yes, the statues. Any places you can think of where there are lots of statues? That we haven't been to yet. Haven't seen it so far."

"I can think of a few, what exactly are we looking for?"

"It's a killer. Efficient, fast, nearly undetectable unless you know it's there. And even then… Well, knowledge doesn't really help much. We need to go. Report in to Jack, tell him it's a weeping angel. I don't know if he knows what that is, but it's bad. We need to search for it, but we are going to need some tech. I have an idea. Might work." Rose was to the car now and had opened her door; she was digging through her bag and muttering to herself.

Gwen watched her for a moment, considering what she had said, she turned from the car and stepped a few paces away to report in.

* * *

><p>Two hours later Jack was watching Rose as she assembled one of the oddest-looking devices he had ever seen. She had used random pieces of stuff, and was going over it with the sonic screwdriver as she occasionally made calculations out loud and pulled on her hair as she talked under her breath, he couldn't really hear what she was saying at those moments, but he figured he didn't really need to. She stood back; seeming to pause and Jack took that opportunity to interrupt her. "What exactly is this?"<p>

Rose started and looked at Jack like she had forgotten he was there. He smiled at the picture she made, her hair was messy from all of her tugging, and her eyes had a sort of far off look about them, they cleared as she focused on him and swallowed before answering his question. "Well. It's a time dilation device. Problem with dealing with an angel is that they last practically forever. Seriously, ages. This is only a theory really; it should work though… Right, so, explanation, if we can get the angel into the area that this device effects, then we should be able sort of fast forward time around it, hopefully long enough to kill it. It's going to take a massive amount of power. It would be good to hook into the city's electric grid, directly. It will probably cause a black out. No way I can think of around that though."

Jack grinned at her and shook his head, "You sound just like him. It's a little spooky."

Rose smiled gently and Jack felt instantly guilty, he was growing more and more nervous about telling her about the Doctor. How could the situation be any more complicated? Rose reached out and touched his arm, she had seen the guilt in his expression, and assumed it was just for bringing up a sad topic. "It's all right Jack. We had a wonderful life. I don't regret a moment of it. And you don't need to feel bad for bringing it up." She looked at the contraption she had put together and her smile became more genuine, if still a little wistful. "It does look rather like something he'd have stuck together, doesn't it? Maybe if there was a bit more string or something."

Jack smiled back at her and cursed himself for not just telling her first thing, or maybe more for not telling the Doctor that she was here. The delay made things even more messed up, if that was possible. "Rose… Are you going to try to find him?"

Rose tapped the screwdriver against her bottom lip thoughtfully as she reached out to adjust something on the machine. Jack thought for a moment that she wasn't going to answer, and was surprised when she spoke, "I think I will, hell, I know I will eventually. I loved John, how could I not? He was the Doctor. I was just... I was just so angry when he left me. Again. It was… Well, it was terrible. What was more terrible was that as angry as I was, I still loved him so much that it hurt. And at the same time, I loved the him that was there… So much time has passed, but both of those emotions are still there. The anger's less, I understand what he was trying to do… But, I don't know… It's all so complicated. Beyond complicated, that's way too mild of a word. And he might've moved on. I don't know if I could deal with… I just don't know. I honestly just do not know what to do."

She was looking down at the machine, fiddling with a dial that she had scavenged from a radio. Jack grabbed her hand to stop its movement and pulled her into a hug. He rested his cheek on top of her head as she gripped him tightly. She pulled away after a moment and smiled at him, her eyes a bit too bright with unshed tears.

She opened her mouth to speak and Jack held up a hand, making her pause. He took a deep breath as he searched for the words he wanted to say, "Rose, the Doctor isn't just going to move on from you. I saw him after you were lost at Canary Wharf. He was a completely different person. I know things are complicated. Probably even more than you know, but you know as well as I do, that the Doctor hasn't just moved on…" Jack paused; searching her face for a moment then smirked, changing the subject. "Now, we have a creepy statue to kill, and then we really need to have a good long talk about all of this."

Rose nodded and grinned at him, "Let's see if this works, yeah?"

* * *

><p>Rose was kneeling beside the device, checking it's settings and explaining to Ianto how it was supposed to work. They had found the angel; it was in the graveyard behind the church they were parked by. They had two people watching it to keep it from moving. Rose wondered if it was aware of the fact that they were trying to kill it.<p>

She remembered when John… The Doctor had told her about them. They were scarier to her than most of the horrific and strange things she had experienced and heard of. The thought of being ripped away from all that you know and love was one that was terrifying to her. She supposed that that made a certain amount of sense, given her history.

Rose looked over to where Jack was coordinating with the rest of his team. Something was up with him. He was nervous about something, and she was pretty sure that it was something directly pertaining to her. She looked back at the machine and then stood, letting Ianto pick it up and they walked together to where Jack was standing. He looked at them questioningly. "All ready? Owen says he's sick of staring at the statue."

Rose rolled her eyes at that and the three of them continued around the building. They stopped in front of the statue and Rose looked around the courtyard. They had it blocked off. Rose had made the field as small as she could, but she was nervous that someone else might stumble into it or something. That would be bad.

Ianto set the machine on the ground and Rose moved to it, she looked up at the statue and repressed a shudder. She regretted that she would have to stand so close to it, but they couldn't risk a big field. Between worry about what else they might damage and power concerns, it couldn't be helped. The rest of the team was standing back a little ways, and they were all watching the angel, taking turns blinking. Owen had actually made a pretty funny joke about coordinated blink training, and then had ruined the effect by leering at her.

Rose had configured the settings and was reaching for the toggle to switch the device on when she heard an achingly familiar sound. The sound of the TARDIS materializing. She looked over to it, and that moment, when everyone lost concentration for less time than it would take to blink, was enough.

When Jack looked back at the angel, Rose was gone. The angel had an arm stretched out towards the space she had previously occupied.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note: **Thank you for reading, and thank you for the awesome reviews Angelic Toaster, DW, Dreamcatcher49, JollyRoger1, scifigeekgirl, IchikoKitsuneKoumori, Pilcrow, and A Who Down in Whoville

Also, I apologize in advance for being mean, this chapter runs a bit parallel to the last one.

And I still don't own Doctor Who.

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><p><strong>Chapter Ten<strong>

The Doctor stood at the console, watching surreptitiously as Amy and Rory played darts. They had been back on the TARDIS for about a week, he grinned to himself at the looks on their faces when he had shown them to their new room, their first on the TARDIS as a couple, and the bunk beds that had been in there. He stopped smiling as his gaze caught on the package Jack had left. He picked it up, testing the weight of it in his hand as he leaned back against the railing. He frowned at it. Jack had been acting a bit off, now that he thought back on it. He had thought perhaps it was just shock at his new new face, but looking back to the last time Jack had seen him with a new face, he thought that wasn't likely to be it. Jack had reacted remarkably well for a human.

Even Rose had had more difficulty adjusting, asking him if he could go back to being big ears. That had hurt. That had hurt more than he had liked to think about, the fear that she wouldn't be able to adjust, would want to leave him. He sighed; this was stupid, dwelling on Rose. It had been harder lately, not to. Seeing Amy and Rory so in love, wondering about who River was. The whole series of events surrounding the Pandorica. Not a day went by really, when at least a small part of him didn't wonder if she was happy. Wondered if he had made the right decision back on that beach. He knew that it was right for her. Well, he mostly knew that. He wished he had told her that he loved her. He had thought at the time that it would make it easier, not admitting it. Now he just regretted the lost chance.

The Doctor was snapped out of his musings and into the present by fingers snapping in front of his face. He looked at the hand, then into the familiar brown eyes of Amy Pond. She was standing right in front of him and had her hands on her hips and an eyebrow raised. "And what has you so distracted? You've been mooning around up here for ages."

The Doctor made a face and slipped the package into one of his pockets. "I am not 'mooning' Amy. I am contemplating. Contemplating very serious things."

Amy smirked and shared a glance with Rory, "Right, so you noticed that we landed five minutes ago."

The Doctor stood up straighter and moved quickly to the view screen, looking at the controls and frowning. Amy tilted her head to the side as she followed his movements, "Now that's proof, you thought you actually missed a landing in this thing. You were still standing weren't you?"

The TARDIS flicked her lights briefly, whether in acknowledgement of Amy's statement, or in protest to it was unclear, but the lights made Amy add, "And another thing, you and yer girlfriend here seem to be on the same page as far as broodiness goes. She moved the bathroom three times on me last night. What -is- up?" Amy ended her statement with her arms crossed in front of her and an intensely curious look on her face. Rory had moved up to sit on the jumpseat, watching the exchange, he was smiling slightly, enjoying Amy's interrogation of the Doctor.

The Doctor looked between the two of them helplessly and then he was rescued by a sudden jarring, the control room lights flashing as they landed somewhere. Amy was thrown almost to the floor before Rory managed to catch her and pull her over beside him onto the seat; the Doctor -was- thrown to the ground, smacking his head against the console on his way. He sat there for a moment in a daze before he stood, carefully surveying the damage. He looked over to his two companions, "You two alright?"

Amy nodded and Rory stood, moving closer to the Doctor, "I think we're fine, but you're bleeding there."

The Doctor brushed away his concern and moved to the console, the lights had dimmed. The Doctor moved his hand to brush the console, asking silently if the TARDIS was all right. The answering murmur and flicker of the lights made him feel somewhat better. He stood at the controls for a moment surveying things before turning to Amy and Rory. "It looks like something pulled us here. Might be a good idea to go take a look. Or it might not, but considering it'll be a bit before we can leave, I vote for the former." As he was speaking the Doctor crossed to the doors, he paused at the threshold and grinned back at Amy and Rory, "Well Ponds, coming?" With that he pulled open the doors and walked out.

Rory and Amy watched him walk out then looked at each other, Amy grinned and hopped off the seat, grabbing Rory's hand and pulling him after the Doctor.

They came to stop beside him, looking around. They seemed to be in a jungle, the trees and greenery around them so thick that they could only see a few feet in any direction around the TARDIS. Rory had the presence of mind to reach behind them and pull the doors shut, then stood with his hands in his pockets, looking around.

The Doctor had predictably pulled his sonic screwdriver out and was scanning a rock formation that Rory had just noticed, and Amy had stepped over to a plant that had enormous purple flowers shaped like some kind of exotic bird. She was leaning towards a blossom when the Doctor yelped and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back. "No touch, not that!"

He turned and picked up a long branch that the TARDIS had apparently knocked off of a tree in its descent. He used the stick to poke the flower, making both Amy and Rory jump in shock as the flower snapped shut, breaking off the edge of the stick and then spitting out the piece of wood, apparently not finding it to it's taste.

"Carnivorous flowers. Not a good idea. Now, I don't see anything yet that could have brought us here, and I think we should go…." The Doctor spun around and stopped seemingly at random and pointed, turning to look at Amy and Rory, "That way. So, geronimo!" And with that he set off walking, Amy and Rory following close behind him.

* * *

><p>They had been walking for what felt like ages to Amy, it was hot, and humid. She made a face and pulled her hair off of her neck for a minute as she trudged along behind her boys. She resisted the urge to say something ridiculous like, are we there yet, but only just. She looked at the darkness of Rory's shirt, glad that he was feeling the heat and humidity as much as she was. She watched her feet for a while, and ran into Rory's back, having not realized that they had come to a stop. Rory turned to her and reached out a hand to steady her as she bounced back off of him. She looked ahead to what had made the Doctor stop. There was a small camp up ahead; it was situated in the shadow of a crashed space ship. The Doctor stepped into the camp, looking about for a moment and the three of them whirled around almost in unison as a familiar someone approached from around the wreckage.<p>

River Song was standing there, smiling slightly, "Hello sweetie, you're late." She looked younger than they had seen her as of yet, and she looked like she must have been camping out here for several days.

The Doctor looked at her a bit warily, and Amy grinned at his attitude towards River, it was fun to see him react to something he didn't know about. It was such an unusual and uncomfortable thing for him. The Doctor scratched his head and took a step closer to River, "Well, sorry about that. But, well, got here when we got here. How exactly did you pull us here?"

River smiled and shook her head, "Single use, so don't worry, I won't be able to do it again." She gestured at the wreckage and moved into the camp, starting to gather together her things. "As you can see, my previous method of transportation had a bit of an… accident. Needed a lift. And a shower, maybe a change of clothes." She handed a large pack to Rory and grinned at him as he stumbled a bit under the weight.

The Doctor watched her as she packed and asked with no small measure of disbelief, "You just want a lift?"

River looked up at him and grinned, asking with a wink, "Should I want more?"

The Doctor shook his head emphatically and took the bag she handed him, "No, of course not, but, well, you tend to make things… Explode and what not."

River smiled and shook her head. "Well, maybe I need a -bit- more than a lift."

* * *

><p>The four of them were looking at a large stone, vine covered structure. It had been about a twenty-minute walk from River's campsite. The Doctor looked from the building to River and back again, "Why am I doing this again?"<p>

"Oh, pick a reason, fate of the universe, because it's here, because you can… Whichever." River smiled enigmatically at him and led on towards the base of the building.

As they walked into the stone corridors, the temperature dropped noticeably from the hot humidity of the jungle they had left behind. Amy sighed in relief and reached out to hold Rory's hand as they followed the Doctor and River farther into the dark. River had taken a torch out of the bag she had Rory carrying and was leading the way like she had been here before and knew precisely where they were going. Water could be heard running somewhere in the distance and the floor was sloping downward, more sharply as they walked farther.

After walking for what seemed like ages, the narrow corridor opened into a large cavern, it was beautiful, the ceiling was lit with what the Doctor announced was basically glow in the dark mold, only he had made it sound much more intriguing by calling it, 'something something… bioluminescent… something something… algae'. Amy had nodded along to his explanation and then she and Rory had wandered off slightly, looking at the walls. The civilization that had once lived here had apparently been of an artistic bent; the walls of the cavern were covered in amazingly vivid paintings.

There was writing too, or at least she guessed it was writing, Amy frowned and called out to the Doctor, "Can you read this? Why isn't it in English? Is something wrong with the TARDIS?" As she spoke Amy turned to face where the Doctor was standing with River, he was staring at a section of the painting with a look on his face that Amy had never seen there before, it was sad and wistful and almost frightened all at the same time. Amy walked over to them, leaving Rory still inspecting the writing.

She stopped next to River and wondered at the look on her face as well, it was very serious, and Amy wondered what was happening exactly. She looked at the painting that had the two of them so transfixed, it was a painting of a woman's face, Amy couldn't tell if the woman was supposed to be blonde, or if it was just that she was glowing, the color seemed to be light emanating from behind her and her eyes were painted as glowing the same color, it reminded Amy of a stained glass window from church, it was more than a little creepy.

Amy looked from the Doctor to River and back to the painting and finally asked, "Who is she?"

The Doctor seemed almost startled at her voice for a moment and then it was like his normal expression dropped over his face like a mask and he looked at Amy with a slight smile, "Well, it would seem that someone is telling a story with these paintings. You can see the progression, " He gestured, indicating a section off to the side and Amy was startled to see what looked like the TARDIS featured in one of the pictures, "And it seems to end… Here." He looked back at the woman's face and Amy watched him closely, looking for evidence of his earlier wistfulness, he hid it well.

"Who is she?" Amy repeated, looking at him with some wonder, as he moved away, bending to look closer at some sections of the writing that was sprinkled through out the paintings. He hadn't answered her. Amy looked at River curiously and River smiled at her, still looking rather serious. "Can you tell me?"

River looked back at the painting and then at Amy, "Well, I could, but…"

Amy frowned, "Spoilers?"

River smiled more genuinely this time and shook her head. "No, I was just going to say that it isn't really my story to tell." She looked after the Doctor; he had pulled a small device from one of his pockets and was running it over the walls, taking images of the paintings to analyze later.

"Is she dangerous? It looks like they were drawing the end of the universe." Amy looked over the paintings, seeing where everything ended at this one portrait.

River nodded thoughtfully, "I think she could be, but look at the divergence here, " River reached out a hand and pointed to an area a few panels back, it seemed like the story split into two, then three, as Amy looked she could see between the writing and the paintings, how some sections of the story looped back into others and went on. It was very confusing. River continued, "I think it represents possibilities. What could be. And I think the possibilities all lead back to her." River looked pensively at the woman's face again and then gestured to the writing, "I think understanding the text would definitely help."

"Why can't we read it? Is it Gallifreyan? I thought that was the only language the TARDIS didn't translate."

"It's too old. Rare, but happens, some languages are so old that the TARDIS can't read them. It's going to be a chore, that." The Doctor spoke from right behind them, making Amy jump slightly, she hadn't noticed him walking back over to them. As she looked she saw that Rory was near them as well, and was listening thoughtfully to what River had said.

Rory spoke, surprising them all, "She looks familiar. I know, I've seen her on the TARDIS screen, just yesterday in fact, her face and some words."

The Doctor was looking at Rory sharply, "What words?"

"Bad Wolf."

* * *

><p>Back on the TARDIS Amy and Rory sat in the console room, watching the Doctor prepare to leave for the coordinates River had given him. River, for her part had disappeared back into the halls of the TARDIS, apparently for that shower and change of clothes. The Doctor was fiddling with the controls and kept looking back at the doorway River had gone through. He was frowning as he lifted a hand to his hair; he pushed it back off of his forehead and then looked at the controls again. He pushed a couple of levers and then pushed what Amy called the in her head the "GO" button. She and Rory held on as the TARDIS engaged, making it's usual noise and jerking it's way to its destination.<p>

Shortly after they had landed River came into the control room and smiled at the Doctor, "Much better. I was camping on that planet for days. I appreciate the lift sweetie."

The Doctor nodded and looked at her with some remaining suspicion, "That's really it? Cave paintings and no explosions?"

River smiled at him without answering as she walked to the doors and opened them; she tossed her bags out of the doors one at a time and then leaned in the doorway for a moment looking at him. "There is actually one more thing."

The Doctor looked at her expectantly, waiting, he lifted a hand and gestured for her to continue, somewhat impatiently. River smirked at him, "Check your pockets, and get on with it." She blew them all a kiss and stepped out the doors, pulling them shut behind her.

Amy looked at the Doctor curiously. "What does that mean then?"

The Doctor shook his head and pushed the control that sent them idling in the vortex. He stepped back from the console then and put his hands in his pockets, he pulled out the package that Jack had left with him and frowned at it. He started to put it back to look for something else and the TARDIS flickered the lights and murmured unhappily. He stopped and held the package out in front of him. It seemed he wasn't going to get any peace until he investigated.

He set the package down on the console and entered the coordinates for Cardiff resignedly. He was almost resentful when the TARDIS happily thrummed at him. He looked over at Amy and Rory and spoke with a slight smile, "We have a stop to make. Cardiff."

Amy and Rory looked at each other doubtfully and Amy spoke, "I think I don't like Wales much. Last trip was a bit, well terrible."

The Doctor shook his head, the TARDIS jerked to a stop and he led the way to the doors. "Just visiting an old friend. What could possibly go wrong?"

He pulled open the door and stepped out into the courtyard; Amy and Rory close behind him. He blinked at the scene in front of him, and said almost under his breath, "Really the worst question EVER."

* * *

><p>AN-So yes, I am still mean, I promise the next chapter will resolve the cliff-iness.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note: **Thank you to everyone reading and following this story. Big thanks to Angelic Toaster, A Who Down in Whoville, scifigeekgirl, Mary Matthesen, Dreamcatcher49, JollyRoger1, and IchikoKitsuneKoumori for taking the time to let me know how I'm doing. You all are awesome.

I don't own Doctor Who, I just obsess about it.

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><p><strong>Chapter 11<strong>

Rose stood up quickly, her head still turned to where the TARDIS should have been appearing. She blinked hard just to be sure that what she was seeing was real. She opened one eye then the other and let out a big sigh. Yes, it seemed she really had been stupid enough to look away when standing -right- in front of a weeping angel.

Damn. Jeopardy friendly wasn't really the term for that, and words to catch the level of stupidity inherent in that kind of lapse in judgment really didn't exist. Maybe she should make up a word to cover it. She would think about it. Hell, she had time.

Rose looked around, trying to get an idea of where, or when she was. Not too many clues to be garnered from a field apparently; a rather large field. Or pasture she supposed. There were horses. Considering that the horses weren't likely to be able to offer much insight into her current situation, Rose picked a direction and walked.

It was a pretty night at least, cold and clear. She looked suspiciously up at the dark sky, hoping the lack of moon was because it was the new moon and not because her life was about to be made even better by torrential downpours. Deciding that her glare wasn't to make any difference and considering the slightly uneven ground had almost tripped her a couple of times Rose watched the ground in front of her instead of the sky. She walked for what felt like hours, but was in reality probably 40 minutes or so.

The fences she had passed so far had been made of wood, nothing fancy and not really anything that would help her in judging time or location. She looked down at her clothes and hoped that she was in a time period when women could wear pants. Didn't want to cause a riot. Rose almost cried with relief when her feet finally found a road of sorts. It wasn't paved; it was gravel. She walked next to it, on the side that didn't have as huge of a ditch. It was pretty dry, so the dust puffed up behind her feet as she walked, slowly coating her legs from the knees down.

She stopped to catch her breath for a bit, leaning against a fence as the sky began to lighten. It really was quite beautiful out here. She had spent most of her time in London for the past several decades, and switching briefly to Cardiff hadn't really changed her level of exposure to the countryside. She didn't think she was in England. Just didn't feel like it, the air felt different. Rose took inventory of what she had with her. She had her sonic, had been holding it when she had been transported. She had some probably useless money stuffed into her pocket; change from her tea. She had a tube of lip-gloss, and that was it for her pockets. She had some jewelry on; her earrings were emeralds. She could sell those. She was wearing her engagement ring and wedding band; she looked down at it, twirling it around her finger. Those she definitely would not sell.

Sighing Rose stood up again and started walking as the sun started to rise. She had walked for long enough for the sky to be completely light when she heard noise in the distance and saw a cloud of dust approaching her. She waved her arms, but stood to the side of the road, not wanting to be run over. She smiled in relief when a dusty, old-fashioned pick up truck slowed to a stop beside her. She stepped up to the opened passenger window, mentally preparing some kind of explanation for her presence out here in the middle of wherever she was, "Hello…"

* * *

><p>The Doctor had come to a rather sudden stop as he took in the chaos in the scene in front of him, Amy and Rory almost running into him. Several people were exclaiming at once, and Ianto Jones was leaping forward and pushing the controls on a machine that was sitting on the ground in front of… Hold on… A weeping angel. Well, he -had- come along in the middle of something interesting.<p>

The Doctor took a few steps closer to the angel, watching with interest as it seemed to disintegrate in front of him, "Fascinating… Is this a temporal distortion field? This is brilliant! Who put this together?" He leaned down to the device and pulled out his sonic, then stood again and looked around at the group. Jack was looking almost physically ill and his team members were in various stages of upset. Ianto was still kneeling on the ground by the device and was looking from Jack to the Doctor worriedly, being privy to Jack's dilemma in the situation between Rose and the Doctor. Amy and Rory were still standing by the TARDIS, looking a bit unsure of themselves.

The Doctor slipped the sonic back into his pocket and reached for his bow tie, straightening it and wondering why he was feeling suddenly nervous. Jack seemed to be slowly snapping out of his shock and was now looking at the Doctor, and looking distinctly unsettled. The Doctor frowned at him, "Jack? What's happened here?"

Jack looked at the doctor and then turned to Ianto, directing him to finish up the situation before gesturing for the Doctor to follow him. As the two men walked from the courtyard Amy and Rory followed at a slight distance. Jack took a deep breath and still looking straight ahead answered the Doctor's first question, "Rose is the one who put that device together Doctor." Jack stopped when the Doctor slowed to a stop beside him; he turned to face him, but still wasn't looking at his face. He looked down between them for a moment, and then snuck a glance at the Doctor, wishing immediately that he hadn't.

The Doctor's throat worked for a moment before he found the ability to form words again, he wanted to make sure he had heard correctly. Although considering all of the clues leading up to this moment, he really shouldn't have been surprised. "You did say Rose? Just checking, cause I could swear that you just said Rose was here." He looked at the expression on Jack's face and felt his own face darkening. His voice was low when he asked his next question, "How long has Rose been here? I ask this because I just saw you. Days ago. And I am absolutely sure that you did not mention this -then-."

Amy and Rory had stopped and were standing awkwardly just out of earshot. As they watched the two men talking, it was obvious that they were discussing something very sensitive. The Doctor had his hands clenched into fists and was talking rather animatedly, getting louder, they could make out the words 'why' and 'you knew', but not much else. As it looked like the Doctor might actually hit Jack, something neither of them could fathom, it was so unlike him, Amy actually took a few quick steps closer to them, reaching out to place a restraining hand on the Doctor's arm before he spun away to stand off to the side, visibly struggling to calm himself.

Amy stopped and watched his back, wondering what could have happened to make the Doctor so upset. Rory came to stand beside her and asked quietly, "Do you know what's going on?" Amy shook her head and turned to look at Jack, the look on his face was pretty wretched.

Jack watched the Doctor for a minute, glancing at Amy and Rory before speaking, "I'm sorry Doctor. Really I am, I just… I wanted to tell her, let her decide what she wanted to do. I thought I would have the time."

The Doctor turned around slowly; he stood for a moment looking Jack in the eye before nodding. "Well then, we'll have to get her back."

* * *

><p>Rose was standing on a corner in Manhattan, she had sold her earrings and purchased train fare to the city. She figured her best chance of sending a message to Jack and the others was here. She had briefly considered contacting Torchwood, but worried both over the reputation the organization had had in the past and over messing up the timeline. There were simply too many opportunities for disaster.<p>

She of course hadn't counted on encountering another time traveler. Something about the man seemed very off. He had arrived using a vortex manipulator; similar to the one she had known Jack to wear. She had watched him from a distance since she had sensed him popping into space a couple of blocks from where she had been staying. She was still unsure of how exactly she had sensed his arrival. That wasn't something she had known she could do. She also wasn't sure how exactly she knew it, but there was something deeply wrong about this man.

He reminded her a bit of the Doctor, somehow. But there seemed to be something off. He moved like he was aching to move faster, to change… something. And he ate. And ate. And ate. It was alarming. She had shadowed him for a couple of days, and every once in awhile he had paused and closed his eyes, like he knew someone was following him. Once he had seemed to look right at her, she had been unaccountably afraid, but he had looked past her and continued on his way.

It was during her third day following him, and she was considering giving up. Finding a way to England and leaving a message for Jack somehow. Or just looking for a way to travel back herself. She was watching as he ate his way through an alarming amount of food, feeling disgusted by his largess when there were people starving literally blocks away. It was really just her luck to arrive in the middle of the great depression for her first time in the states. She didn't count her time spent in an underground bunker in Utah as a proper visit. She had seen the people living in the park a few blocks away and was incredibly saddened by the way people had to exist.

She heard a familiar sound, one she had heard rather recently. The sound of the TARDIS materializing. She looked back at the man she was following too late to see his look of excited recognition. She left him, unable to resist the siren's call of the TARDIS, a chance to see him, even an older him that she couldn't interact with.

She remembered now, him telling her about encountering daleks in depression era Manhattan, the details were vague, but it consisted of him saving the universe, and lots of running. Always with the running. She was smiling as she slipped quietly around a corner, keeping to the shadows, out of sight. She felt her heart contract as she saw him. He was walking next to a woman she identified as Martha once she was able to tear her eyes from the Doctor long enough to look at her. They were talking animatedly and she smiled sadly at his familiar gestures.

Rose watched them walk away and turned to the TARDIS, walking towards the blue box, planning to simply brush her fingers against the wood in hello before getting far away from this place and any chance she had of screwing things up. She laid her hand against the door and felt the TARDIS brush her mind in welcome; she closed her eyes and smiled at the familiar feeling. She thought a hello at the TARDIS, and grinned wider at the answering feeling of warmth. She brushed her hand up and down in affection before turning to move away, stopping when she saw the man. Lost in the moment as she had been, she had almost forgotten about him.

He was watching her, looking between her and the TARDIS with a disconcerting expression of hunger across his face. When he spoke, it was with a sneer, "I thought that might be you; the time vortex girl. I could feel it, smell it on you. You wear time like a perfume; it swirls around you. The girl in the TARDIS." He took a step closer to her and she resisted the urge to step back.

"Who are you?" Rose winced inwardly at the inanity of her question, a better one was, "What do you want?"

"I want the TARDIS, among other things. And I think you could help me with that." He took a threatening step forward and Rose sidestepped slightly, keeping her distance from him.

"And why would I do somethin' like that?"

"Because I am The Master, and I get what I want."

* * *

><p>After declaring his intention to find Rose, the Doctor had spun on his heel and walked brusquely back to the TARDIS, leaving Amy, Rory and Jack to follow in his wake. He snapped his fingers, setting the TARDIS doors flying open in front of him. He didn't pause as he crossed to the console, swinging the screen around to face him and pushing buttons purposefully. He felt the TARDIS brush his mind, agreeing completely with his course of action. The other three followed him inside, Rory turning to shut the door behind them. They stood for a moment watching the Doctor work before turning to each other.<p>

Amy looked at Jack and finally asked, "And who are you supposed to be then?"

Jack turned to her and smiled, "Captain Jack Harkness. And you two are?"

The Doctor stuck his head up at that and looked at Jack sharply, "Hey, this is not the time."

"Just saying hello, Doc."

The Doctor just leveled a look at him, Amy and Rory turned to the Doctor, "Oh, we don't mind."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and turned back to the screen, checking the information before hitting the lever and sending them into the vortex.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's note: **Thanks for reading, and thanks to the wonderful reviewers. I hope everyone continues to enjoy the story. Please take the time to let me know what you think, and what I could do better.

I don't own Doctor Who. Just the DVD's and a couple of books.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12<strong>

Rose looked at the man standing in front of her and asked incredulously, "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"Oh, I'm not completely alive now. Isn't that almost the same thing?" He took another step towards her and she took another step sideways, moving away from the TARDIS. She had briefly considered going in and locking him out, but in the end that would be just as disastrous, the interaction with the past Doctor and Martha would surely create an unforgivable paradox.

Rose decided to try to get him talking. Megalomaniacs loved talking about themselves enough to let you figure out a plan… and if that didn't work, it would at least be more information. It really might help to know what the hell he was doing walking around when he had died; John had recounted the story to her with no small amount of sadness. Sure that he was the last of his kind for sure now that the Master had refused to regenerate. She shifted on the balls of her feet, preparing to run, watching him warily. "What does that mean? Not completely alive?"

"Well, I am less than what I was. It is time to change that." He smiled, sensing her nerves, he jerked forward a bit, smiling wider at her as she startled.

"And you're going to do that by taking the TARDIS in your past? That is just stupid. You can't change your own timeline, that's like laying out a welcome mat for reapers." Rose took a step away from both the TARDIS and the Master; he kept smiling at her as he let her move farther away from him.

The Master shrugged nonchalantly, "That just means that it will either work and I won't be like this anymore, or it won't work, everything will cease to exist and I won't be like this anymore. Win win really."

Rose gaped at him for a moment before shaking her head at him, "Well, you're obviously barking mad. Good to know."

"What I am is impatient. I want your TARDIS key. Now. It would really be better for you if you would simply cooperate." The Master had his hands at his sides and looked at her like he honestly expected her to go along with what he wanted.

"Well that isn't going to happen." Rose felt that she was far enough away to get a head start if he came at her, she noted that he didn't seem to be carrying any weapons, and yet seemed pretty confident that he could compel her to cooperate. That could either be a sign of his bat-shit craziness or it could mean he was capable of something she didn't know about. Hopefully it was the former, although knowing her luck, probably not.

The Master rolled his eyes, "Blah, blah, blah… I don't really care. More fun if you don't." With that he lifted his hands, sensing an impending attack Rose took off for a small alleyway that led off of the area they were standing in. Running didn't help too much, as she had barely made it around the corner when she felt debilitating pain as she was struck with some kind of energy bolt.

Rose hit the ground, still shaking slightly from the shock to her system, her eyes wide with pain and incredulity. Seriously, she had the worst luck. A bad guy who was shooting freakin' lightning out of his hands? Seriously?

She looked up at him as he walked calmly towards her, his hands tucked into his pockets and a spring in his step. He stood looking down at her, the smile on his face not entirely sane. He looked her up and down and said, "Well, now I am not only impatient, but am also simply starving." He smiled wider and lifted a hand, holding it towards her.

Rose experienced a tugging of sorts at the edge of her consciousness, she felt like she was being sucked through a funnel into nothingness. She looked up at him as time seemed to slow down, the little dark spots that had appeared at the edges of her vision receded and she stood, noting the shocked, almost panicked look on his face. She could see a sort of shimmering golden light all around, but was unaware of the golden glow that was emanating from her eyes and the way the energy pulsating from her seemed to cause her hair to flutter in a nonexistent wind. Rose stood for a moment, feeling the energy flood her senses, and finally clearing her mind, looked at the Master.

He was standing there staring, dumbfounded and afraid. He took a step back; his hands held out in front of him, "It's still in you…" He seemed to consider that, several expressions chasing themselves across his face before he turned and ran from the alleyway. Rose watched him go, closing her eyes and breathing slowly, the echo-ey feeling in her head calming from a roar to a whisper.

When she opened her eyes again the world looked normal, and time seemed to be passing as it should. Rose leaned against the brick of a building tiredly, feeling oddly drained. This was happening more often, the Bad Wolf surfacing to protect her. It frightened her; she knew that it wasn't something she had control over. It had lasted longer this time, and she could remember the rush of feeling as the energy had flowed within her. She was afraid of what would happen if it took her over, if she would simply cease to be Rose and become… It.

Rose stood straight and walked from the alley, brushing her fingers along the wood of the TARDIS in farewell as she walked. It worried her that the Master had simply retreated. That wasn't like the stories she knew of him. Rose had a feeling that she would have to deal with him again. For now though, she needed to lay low, keep out of the way of the Doctor and Martha. No more sneaking glances; it was too risky. She simply had to hope that he was too deep into his current adventure to notice anything that had already happened.

Rose looked around warily before turning down the busy street to walk back to her hotel.

* * *

><p>The Doctor continued wandering around the console, fiddling with controls and stopping to check the symbols flashing across the screen periodically. Jack, Amy and Rory had hung around in the control room watching him for a while before Amy had declared that she wanted tea and had left the room, dragging Rory behind her. Jack had watched them leave and then had walked up to join the Doctor on the platform by the console. He watched him for a moment longer before interrupting. "So how do you plan to find her?"<p>

The Doctor looked up from the controls, his expression serious. The Doctor was really unsure of how to feel about Jack at the moment. He had been angry, still was in a way. But he supposed he understood the fact that Jack had wanted to talk to Rose first. He was more upset right now that Jack had had Rose in a position that had led to her being lost. He knew he was overprotective. He had a tendency to be that way, especially with Rose. He thought back to what Jack had said about Rose having been the one to put together the device that had stopped the angel. It had really been brilliant. "How long has Rose been working in Cardiff with you?"

Jack shook his head slowly, watching the Doctor's expression. "She hasn't been working for me at all. She came through the rift a little over a month ago." He looked at the Doctor for a moment, correctly surmising that he was struggling with his usual overprotectiveness where Rose was concerned. "I know that you know she's brilliant. You should also know that she's incredibly capable. I asked her to join my team; she would be a real asset. I get the impression that she was pretty high ranking in the Torchwood on that side. Said she wanted to relax some before she decided what she wanted to do with her life. I think she knew she was eventually going to want to try to find you." Jack leaned back against the rail with his thumbs tucked into his waistband as he watched the Doctor digest that information.

"How did she come through the rift?"

Jack shrugged slightly, "I don't really understand. She said that there were micro wormholes that spanned similar rifts throughout many universes, she had a device that let her target one that would lead here to this one, told her the target universe, but not the time period. The other you apparently thought up the design."

The Doctor frowned, "So she came through purposefully? What about the metacrisis? Why would he send her back here?"

Jack shifted uncomfortably, "I think that you should discuss this with Rose. You two have a lot to talk about." Jack stood up from the railing and moved closer to the console, "So… plan?"

The Doctor looked at him thoughtfully, considering what was left unsaid then nodded and gestured to the screen. "Scanning for her. She has some residual huon radiation from absorbing the heart of the TARDIS. I'm -hoping- that it will be enough for us to track her. Angels usually teleport a person into the past on the planet they are on, so that fortunately narrows the search. Still might take awhile though." He turned from Jack and went back to his nervous fiddling.

Jack watched him for a moment longer before turning from him to go seek out the kitchen and a cup of coffee.

* * *

><p>Amy and Rory were sitting at the table in the TARDIS kitchen drinking tea and speculating on what was going on with the Doctor and this Rose person. They had different ideas on what they should do. Amy wanted to press for more information. She was rather alarmed at the Doctor's near loss of control back in Cardiff. That kind of reaction was completely unlike what she knew of him, and she had seen him upset about things in the past.<p>

Rory thought that they should leave it alone. He pointed out that something that could make the Doctor that upset was obviously sensitive and they should wait and see if he wanted to talk about it before pressing the issue. Amy dismissed his thoughts on the matter rather quickly. Resulting in a short but somewhat spirited argument.

They both stopped talking abruptly when Jack walked into the room. Amy caught Rory's eye and tilted her head to indicate that he should try to pump Jack for information, rolling her eyes at him exasperatedly when he wouldn't cooperate. Jack poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table facing them, he looked from one to the other then leaned back in his seat and smiled slightly, taking a drink.

Amy eyed him for a moment then spoke with the air of someone who just couldn't help herself. "So you used to travel with the Doctor?"

Jack nodded, "Yes I did, quite awhile back. Met him during the blitz in London."

Amy nodded and leaned forward slightly, "And Rose? Who's she?"

Jack seemed to think about how to answer that for a moment, looking into his coffee like he expected to find answers there. He lifted his head and had opened his mouth to speak when the Doctor stuck his head into the room, announcing that they had landed. Amy pouted for a moment as her chance at answers fled, she put those feelings aside as they stood and followed the Doctor back to the control room, his anxiousness to be out there spreading to the rest. They stepped outside and Jack asked, "Do you know where we are?"

The Doctor was looking around somewhat nervously and turned to the rest of them with a serious look on his face, "Yes I do. And we are going to need to be careful. We are in New York City, it's November 1930, and I'm around here somewhere. This is going to be tricky, we have to look for Rose without running into me and Martha. All right, this is what we are going to do. Ponds," He looked between Amy and Jack, and Amy knew that he was aware of her mad desire to pump Jack for information. "Right, Ponds, go that way, Jack, go that way, and I will go this way." The Doctor walked off in the direction he had indicated for himself, leaving the others standing by the TARDIS.

Amy looked from Rory to Jack and said, "He -is- more distracted than usual. Rory and I don't even know who we are looking for."

Jack smiled winningly at her, "I'm guessing he figures you'll know her when you see her." With that he walked briskly off in the direction the Doctor had assigned him.

Rory shrugged at her and started walking, Amy following close behind him and grabbing his hand. "So, we are off looking for the Doctor's long lost girlfriend. And I thought River was his wife."

"I don't know about the Doctor having a girlfriend or a wife. It just seems seriously strange."

"Well, -I- still think River is his wife. I wonder what she will think of us chasing down his girlfriend." Amy was pulled to a stop as Rory had stopped moving behind her and their hands were still linked. She turned to look at him quizzically.

He was staring down the street and started pulling her after him. "I'm guessing we'll get to find out." Amy saw what he was looking at; it was a young woman with long brown hair, wearing jeans and a jacket. She was walking towards them and her face was clearly visible. It was the woman from the paintings, no mistaking her features.

Rose stopped walking when it became clear that the couple walking towards her were staring at her. She raised an eyebrow and waited for them to get to her. The three of them stood staring at each other for a good long minute before the young ginger woman in the very short skirt spoke. "So you're Rose, yeah?"

Rose nodded yes and asked, "And you two would be?"

Amy answered for the both of them, "I'm Amy and this is Rory. We came for you... with the Doctor."

Rose felt her mouth drop open, and her heart quicken. She had thought that she felt... something, a twinge of timey wimeyness that she was still getting used to being able to feel, but had discounted it, what with the Doctor already being here. She was shocked that he would come to his own past. She wondered how he had even found out she was missing. She also wondered how she felt about the fact that he had come for her... Well, only one way to answer most of those questions. She closed her mouth with a snap and looked from Amy to Rory, "The Doctor is here? Where?"

Amy threw a slightly vindicated look at Rory, taking her reaction to mean that Amy was right about her speculation. She looked back at Rose and smiled, "The TARDIS is back this way." She turned to lead the way. They started walking and Amy was formulating her line of questioning for getting information out of Rose, about the Doctor and about the paintings. Really she had a ton of questions.

She turned to ask one when a light seemed to shimmer over Rose, Amy let out a shout and Rory reached for Rose's arm, trying to yank her out of the beam of light; the result being that both Rory and Rose winked out of existence.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's note: **So I decided that I should go ahead and do a two chapter update, since I had them both reasonably polished. I have delayed the reunion long enough. :)

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13<strong>

Rose and Rory fell to the ground as they landed in a small white room, Rose grunted at Rory and shoved, "Gettoff o' me."

Rory rolled over and sat up slowly, "Sorry 'bout that." He looked around, feeling a bit off still from being… teleported or whatever. He looked over at Rose as she also sat up, she stood, obviously feeling less addled then him. She moved to the walls and was feeling along them, like she was looking for a way out. She pulled out a tool, and started pointing it at the wall. She was pushing a button on the side and it was emitting a familiar sound. "Is that a sonic screwdriver?"

Rose glanced at him and nodded, "Yeah. It is. Room seems totally sealed." She stepped back to the center of the room, standing closer to him as she pointed the screwdriver at the corners and frowned. "I think the wall itself might be the door." She looked down at him sitting there and put the tool away, she held a hand out to him and helped him stand. "You alright?"

"Yeah, just… Yeah. Feeling lots better now."

"Time travel without a capsule. It'll do that to you." Rose smiled at him and patted his arm. "You'll feel completely better in no time. Possibly just in time for us to find out why we're here."

Rory looked at her doubtfully, "That's not really that reassuring."

Rose opened her mouth to answer him then closed it again as one of the walls slid up to reveal a couple of large vaguely reptilian men with guns pointed at them. Rose and Rory lifted their arms as one of the men came towards them and grabbed Rose by the shoulder, pulling her forward roughly. "You come with us. The spare stays here. Don't try anything."

"Wait where are you taking her?" Rory asked and Rose shook her head at him emphatically. He got her point when the man pulling her forward casually reached out and pistol-whipped him, knocking him to the ground. Rory stayed down there, holding the side of his head as he watched them taking her from the room. He pulled his hand away and looked at the blood on his fingers ruefully as the wall slid back shut behind them.

Rose went along with the men without struggling, knowing there really wasn't any point to fighting them. She was led down a long white hallway and thought to herself how monotonous this place was. And how ridiculous it was that mere moments before she was going to be reunited with the Doctor she had been dragged here; stupid timing, over and over again. Rory seemed nice enough. She sure hoped she was going to be able to keep him alive; him being referred to as a 'spare' confirmed that he had simply gotten in the way of something to do with her. That was inconvenient. She might have been able to be a bit more reckless if she didn't have him to worry about.

She was startled out of her musings as she was suddenly pulled to a stop and the man not holding her by the shoulder opened a door in the wall and she was shoved into the room beyond. She stumbled slightly before she caught herself and stopped, looking up. She saw the man leaning against the wall and she gasped. She really should have figured.

Damn.

This was bad.

* * *

><p>Rory stood as the wall opened again; he opened his arms to catch Rose as she was pitched into the room. The wall slid shut and Rory supported Rose, settling her gently on the ground. Rose leaned against the wall and stared at the floor for a while. Rory knelt beside her and leaned back on his heels, he was concerned, she was so pale. She looked worried. He finally asked, "What is it? You know what's going on?"<p>

Rose looked at him, meeting his eyes and he had to look away, her eyes seemed to burn, the brown he had seen before was illuminated by gold flecks of light that seemed to swirl in her irises. She let out a breath and he would have sworn that the air shimmered golden for a moment before her breath dissipated and she spoke. Her voice started out with a hollow, almost echo-ey quality that alarmed him before it resumed its normal tone, "It's the Master. He is an enemy of the Doctor… arch nemesis to borrow a term from comic books or something. I thought he was dead, I think he was supposed to be… " She trailed off for a moment before looking at him, he let out a relieved breath, her eyes were back to their normal brown. He was able to convince himself in that moment that he had imagined the swirling gold. She took a deep breath and spoke again, "It seems he was brought back. But not enough, something must've gone wrong, and he thinks… he thinks I can fix it." She shook her head and leaned back, her head resting against the wall.

"Why would he think you could fix him?"

Rose looked at him, seeming to search his gaze, "What exactly do you know about me?"

Rory shrugged, he leaned back sitting next to her and reaching out to hold her hand, seeming to sense that she needed the contact. "All I know is that you used to travel with the Doctor, and my wife thinks you're his girlfriend."

Rose smiled and squeezed his hand before speaking, "Well, yes, I used to travel with the Doctor." Rose paused to collect her thoughts and continued, "At one point he was facing something that he was sure was going to kill him. Would have too. He sent us away, the TARDIS and me. He sent us away to protect us, and well, we were both bloody pissed. We came to an understanding, she and I. She couldn't fly without someone to fly her, and I couldn't fly her the way I was… so between the two of us we created someone else. An entity called the Bad Wolf. She is part TARDIS, part time the time vortex itself, and part me. I think that is what made it work. She is part human; we have something that is so lacking sometimes in the world the Doctor occupies. We have love. We, the Bad Wolf and I, we love Jack. We made him the… abomination he is today I don't know if you know this, but… he can't die because of what we did. I… We… We love the Doctor, had to save him. And have to keep him saved." Rose turned her head against the wall and smiled at him ruefully, "And I bet you can imagine, that he isn't very easy to -keep- saved. Stupid git." Rose leaned forward and rested her head against her knees. She tilted her head to look at Rory, "The Master, he seems to think he can harness her, make her fix him"

"And him being fixed, that's bad?"

"Oh yeah. Every good thing the Doctor is, the Master is like his polar opposite."

Rory looked at her as she leaned against the wall with her eyes closed. "The Master eh? A Time Lord? Do they honestly come up with these names on their own?"

Rose laughed and looked at him grinning, her tongue touching her teeth, the smile was infectious and Rory found himself grinning back despite the seriousness of the situation. He thought that he understood why the Doctor loved this woman when he was looking her in the eye, answering her grin with one of his own. She smiled as she said, "Rory, I like you. Brilliant you are, really. Not that that's surprising. The Doctor only picks the best."

* * *

><p>Time passed and Rory wasn't really sure of how much. He just knew that his days had settled into a pattern. The day would start; Rose would be taken from the room that they shared. Time would pass, Rose would be brought back in various stages of unconsciousness, and he would sit with her. Some nights she would wake up and they would share stories, he would talk of his marriage, of Amy and how much he loved her, of his life with the Doctor, of the adventures he had had. She would tell him of her life. Of the Doctor, of the one she had been married to, of the one before him, all ears and big grin. She had explained to him about regeneration and he had described the Doctor he knew, his big floppy brown hair and the bow tie. She hadn't been able to decide from his description if he had regenerated. And they had dismissed it as unimportant.<p>

As time passed Rory began to wonder if they would be rescued. He had been so sure at the beginning; he knew Amy would want to come for him. And he knew without a doubt that everyone would want to come for Rose. The TARDIS, that man Jack, and the Doctor of course wanted to rescue the woman he loved. But time continued to pass. And still no one came. He started to give up hope. And he was worried that Rose had begun to feel the same way.

The monotony of Rory's life came to an abrupt end one day, sometime after Rose had been taken away, and sometime before he reckoned she was supposed to be brought back. The wall swung opened and Rose stood there grinning at him as she swung one of the guns the guards usually had trained on her at all times. Rory stood up and looked at her warily, Rose stepped into the room and grinned even wider, "Rory… tha's a brilliant name. Ror-ry. Sounds like a noise a bear makes. Ooh, or a rabbit. Definitely a rabbit."

Rory stood carefully watching Rose, "Rabbits don't really make noise Rose."

"Weellll, it could be a name then… ooh, a cartoon character, Rory the rascally rabbit. That's totally it."

Rory took a step towards her, his hands out in front of him, "Rose, are you high?" He looked her in the eye; seeing that her pupils were so dilated that he could barely see the brown of her irises.

Rose giggled and gestured with the gun, causing Rory to jump a bit. "Oh yeah. I don't know what they gave me, but I feel BRILLIANT. Com'n Rory the rabbit. Escape pods." She turned abruptly and gestured down the hall, the result of her leaving the support of the wall being that she stumbled and almost fell.

Rory reached out and caught her, he was alarmed at how unsteady she seemed and reached to take the gun out of her hand. She fought him and said, "No, I brought one for you too. Don't worry, phasers set to stun!" She pulled one of the guns from her pocket and handed it over. Then she gestured ahead of them, "Stun don't last forever. Lessgo then."

"I don't know if you can walk here. Why don't I carry you, you know where to go?"

"Ooh, piggy back!" Rose hopped onto his back and Rory just managed to catch himself before falling over as he moved his arms to hold her legs, "I know what to look for, go that way!" Rose pointed and Rory took off in that direction, figuring that it had to be better than staying in their cell.

* * *

><p>When Amy had found him and had explained what had happened to Rose and Rory, the Doctor had been beside himself with agitation. It had taken him days to ascertain where Rose might be, and the TARDIS and the Doctor had both been obviously disturbed. Amy had been similarly inconsolable; she had sat in the jumpseat almost the entire time watching the Doctor trying to calculate the whereabouts of her husband. Jack had spent quite a bit of time there, watching the Doctor work as well, trying to comfort them both. He was worried though that he would reveal things about Rose in his attempt to put minds at ease, that she should tell the Doctor herself and finally retreated to his room. He was flattered that the TARDIS had left it the way it had been when he had parted ways with the Doctor.<p>

When they had finally been able to trace the transport beam that had stolen Rose and Rory, they had immediately traveled there; the TARDIS not even waiting for the Doctor to hit the 'go' button before taking off. The TARDIS had materialized and practically pushed her passengers out of her doors. Jack looked back at the doors as the three of them stood outside of it. "She really wants you to find Rose."

The Doctor looked from Jack to the TARDIS, feeling her agreement with Jack's assessment, "Yeah. Pushy woman. Typical." He looked from Amy to Jack and nodded as he looked down the long white corridor that stretched in both directions. "Right then, you two go that way, and I will go this way… This is exciting." The Doctor nodded at them and started off, leaving the two of them to do what he had told them. Amy and Jack looked at each other for a moment and then set off as well, heading in the opposite direction from the Doctor.

* * *

><p>Rory and Rose had been wandering the halls for a while and Rory rolled his eyes at her continued rambling. She had made up an entire life for 'Rory the rascally rabbit' as they walked the corridors. Rory was just happy that she had had the presence of mind to stun the guards they had come across as she went on and on about it. He stopped and lowered her gently to the ground, steadying her as she leaned back against the wall. "Ok Rose, I need you to think, I need you to tell me where the escape pods are, or what they are going to look like."<p>

Rose looked at him for a moment, it obviously taxing her sensibilities to focus that much, and then nodded, she reached out a hand and drew a symbol on the wall, "We are looking for that. It's what the exit signs look like." She was looking at the symbol but Rory was frowning at her hand.

"Is that blood?" He reached for her shirt and lifted it, revealing a wound in her abdomen, "Rose, did you get shot?"

"Well yeah, a bit." She looked stupidly down at her stomach then up at Rory, "But it's ok. The exit signs look like this."

Rory looked at her face in disbelief, "You got a -bit- shot? Seriously?" They were standing there looking at each other when someone turned a corner in front of them and seeing them darted forward. Rose and Rory both turned to look at the newcomer and Rory started to call to him as Rose lifted her arm and shot, stunning the Doctor. Rory watched in shock as the Doctor crumpled to the ground and Rory turned to look back at Rose. "What did you do that for?"

Rose disregarded his question as she looked at the unfamiliar man on the ground, "You know, Rory the rabbit, he should -definitely- wear a bow tie." She started to sag against the wall and Rory reached for her in alarm, lifting her shirt again to look at the wound.

He dropped Rose abruptly to the ground as a familiar voice boomed out, "Oi, Stupid! What are you doing with your hands under her shirt? And what happened to the Doctor?"

* * *

><p>AN: Well, they occupy the same space and time at least. That's nicer, right?


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's note: **Thank you for reading, and thank you to the wonderful people who take the time to review, here it is, finally, the reunion, I hope it meets expectations.

I don't own anything really. :(

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><p><strong>Chapter 14<strong>

Amy and Jack hurried over to the other three where they waited in the corridor. Jack had immediately knelt by Rose and helped her shift up into a sitting position. He looked over to where the Doctor was laying unconscious and then to the gun she had dropped when she went down. He reached over, picking it up and checking the settings, "Well, at least it's on stun." He looked at her face and found himself unable to resist a smirk as he took in her dilated pupils. He moved her shirt to the side and looked at the wound on her abdomen, "That doesn't look like it feels too great."

After kissing Rory quite thoroughly in her excitement to see him, Amy and Rory had both gone over to the Doctor to check that he was ok. Rory had looked up at Jack's assessment of Rose's wound. "She actually told me she was a -bit- shot. Can you believe that? A -bit-." Rory moved to kneel by Jack, looking at the wound, it was a nasty burn, from one of the guns that had not been set to stun.

Rose rolled her eyes at him and winced, smacking Jack's hand as he poked at it. The euphoric feelings engendered by the drugs seemed to be wearing off. She looked down the hallway, an expression of concern on her face. "I've had worse. We should really leave, the guards won't stay stunned forever." Jack nodded his agreement and moved to the Doctor, hefting him up in a fireman's carry and standing there while Rory helped Rose to her feet. She swayed slightly and made a face. She wished the drugs had waited a little longer before starting to wear off. She was feeling more shot by the second.

She felt her vision start to narrow and she sighed, managing to say… "I think I'm gonna faint…" Before passing out. Rory reached down and lifted her legs, moving to follow Jack as he led the way back to the TARDIS.

* * *

><p>The Doctor was pretty sure he was upside down, he opened his eyes and confirmed that yes, he was definitely upside down. And staring at a part of Jack's body that he didn't care to be this close to. He shifted slightly and felt Jack stop, realizing that he was awake. Jack set the Doctor onto his feet and stepped back after making sure he wasn't going to fall over. They were back in the TARDIS, and the Doctor looked around in some confusion. "What happened?"<p>

Jack smirked at him, "It seems Rose shot you." His smile widened at the Doctor's expression, "Don't feel bad. She shot me too, and she wasn't even high at the time. She's in the infirmary, Rory's patching up the wound she had. I'm guessing you'll want to talk to her when she wakes up."

The Doctor nodded and fiddled with his bow tie nervously, his eyes moving to the doorway that led to the hallway and from there to the infirmary. He moved to the controls and sent the TARDIS floating into the vortex, feeling her brush up against his mind in an interestingly content way. Seemed she was happy to have Rose back. He stroked the console in agreement and Jack cleared his throat behind the Doctor.

"I guess I'll leave you two alone." Jack grinned at the Doctor and left the room, leaving the Doctor with his thoughts and the TARDIS for company.

* * *

><p>The Doctor stood in the doorway of the infirmary, feeling silly that he had almost snuck down the hall to the room, and had checked with the TARDIS to make sure that Rose was alone in here before he had done so. He looked at her on the cot, the air smelling faintly antiseptic. She was wearing her jeans and a shirt that he recognized as one of Amy's. He knew that Rory had patched her up and then he and Amy had retired to their room. The Doctor stepped in to the room and pulled a chair up to the side of the cot, sitting in it and turning to look at Rose.<p>

His gaze rested on her face for quite a while, taking in the familiar features, she looked different, but still beautiful with her darker hair. At it's current length she must have quit lightening it quite some time ago. He looked at her face for another moment, wondering at the fact that she looked so unchanged. Like no time had passed.

He sat back in the chair, as he adjusted his position he glanced down at her hands, the one on the side of the bed he was sitting on was her left. He leaned close to it, taking in the wedding rings. He looked back up at her face as he leaned back. He was never really sure how he felt about it when he thought of her living in the parallel universe with the other him. He felt such an odd mixture of happiness, hoping she was happy, and jealousy. Which was just silly he would invariably remind himself, being jealous of himself. Usually reminding himself of that didn't really help.

He sat there and watched her sleep for a while. He was happy she was here; he had to admit to that. Even with the situation, with wondering what had happened to make her come through, with what was going on, those cave paintings he had seen. He needed to get to work on finding out what the writing had been. Seeing her there had been a shock, and the ramifications of the things depicted could be huge. That would wait though. For now he simply wanted to sit and look at her, and feel that sense of rightness that he felt when Rose was near. The Doctor and Rose in the TARDIS. That really was simply right. The way things were meant to be.

The Doctor reached out a hand to hers and held it, not able to resist the need to feel their hands linked together. His face settled into a smile as he squeezed her hand, the unfamiliar feeling of her rings, and the new new him's hand, not detracting from the way they fit together perfectly in the slightest. He jumped when her fingers squeezed his back, almost dropping her hand. His eyes darted up to her face, seeing her eyes open, awake and looking at him. He stared into her eyes for a moment, feeling his hearts contract at the uncertainty in the familiar deep brown of her gaze. She smiled at him then, recognition clear in her expression, and he smiled back somewhat sheepishly, his unoccupied hand reaching up to tug at his ear nervously, in a gesture that reminded him of his tenth self's mannerisms.

Rose smiled wider and started to speak, clearing her throat before she was able to continue. "Look at you… Still not ginger." She sat up, wincing slightly. She pulled his hand into her lap and looked down at their linked fingers. She smiled as she looked up at his face, blushing slightly, "I… um… did I shoot you? I think I remember shooting you."

The Doctor waved his hand, indicating that she should disregard that. He watched as she looked back down at their hands, she had turned his hand over and was looking at the back of it, like she found it fascinating. He scooted the chair closer, and leaned forward to catch her eye, "How did you know it was me?"

Rose looked at his eyes and almost looked for a moment like she was going to reach to touch his face, her hand lifting briefly before she let it drop back down to her side, "Your eyes. Even when the color changes, it's still you in there." She lifted her hand again and completed the motion this time, her palm resting on his cheek as she stroked the pad of her thumb along his temple. "That look, right there. You have old eyes Doctor. Even though your face seems to have gotten younger again. Not quite fair, that."

He was leaning into her touch, caught himself doing so, and struggled with himself for a moment before leaning back, catching her hand in his own and looking at it. He looked up at her, quirking an eyebrow and asked, "So, be honest, how do I look?"

She smiled at him, and echoed her own words from so long ago. "Different."

"Good different or bad different?" He smiled at her, also remembering the last conversation they had had like this.

"Just different." She grinned at him, her tongue touching her teeth.

The Doctor's hearts stuttered at the expression he had imagined so often when he thought of her, and the brilliant life she should be having. His expression became serious as he asked, "What happened Rose? Why are you here? The other me…"

Rose closed her eyes in pain as he trailed off; she opened them again, knowing from the burning behind them that they were shiny with tears. She pressed her lips together for a moment before speaking. "John, he went with John as his name. He died. Almost a year ago."

"How? What happened?" The Doctor could tell that the subject pained her, and he almost regretted asking. She was looking down at their joined hands, and he seemed to sense a sort of reluctance from her. Not a pained reluctance, but something more. She seemed to be unaccountably nervous.

He almost didn't hear her when she spoke, and with his Time Lord ears, that meant she was mumbling very lowly indeed. He strained to catch it as she said, "He died of old age Doctor. He was 107 when he died, from the time he had been created." Absolute silence reigned in the room as he digested that fact. Rose glanced up to look at his face, her eyes were still wet, and her forehead was creased with worry as she waited for some kind of reaction.

The Doctor's mind spun over all of the possibilities and finally he simply asked, "How?" He knew he was repeating himself, but couldn't seem to help it. His mind was awash with all of the possible ramifications of what she had said and what it could mean.

Rose sighed and shifted slightly, she released one of his hands to brush some of her hair behind her ear, the overhead lights reflecting off of the stone in her ring. She looked at the Doctor and smiled slightly, "Bad Wolf. She keeps me alive. I heal pretty quickly too. This here, " She gestured at her stomach, and the bandage that could be seen, wrinkling the shirt. "Be gone by tomorrow. John, he did tests. I give off a little bit of radiation, like the TARDIS. Other than that though, totally normal."

Rose watched the Doctor's face as he thought about this. His eyes had darted briefly to some testing equipment in the corner, and she could practically feel him itching to run some tests, find out for himself the details. Rose sighed, smiling slightly. He was so -him-. She squeezed his hand, causing him to look at her, meeting her eyes. "You can run tests if you want."

The Doctor actually blushed; he lifted his free hand to push his hair out of his eyes and smiled slightly at her. "I don't need to. Not now." He took her other hand back in his and pressed her hands together between his own. "I'm sorry Rose. I'm so sorry about John." He took a deep breath and kept her gaze pinned with the intensity of his own. "And I'm sorry that I… That I…" The Doctor sighed and looked away, trying to find the words he wanted to say. He thought about what it had been like for her, to watch as the person she loved grew old and died. It was what he had feared the most, and he had condemned her to it. She pulled one of her hands from his and lifted it, settling a finger against his lips. He brought his eyes around to hers again and was humbled a bit by the expression in them.

She smiled sadly as she spoke, "I know. I know Doctor. And don't. I don't regret a single minute. We had a good life."

"You're braver than me." The confession startled him as much as her. He hadn't realized he thought that, much less that he was going to say it. But as he considered the words, he decided that they were true. "The thought of… well, the thought of losing you that way, it was too much. Please believe me though, I thought I was making the right decision for everyone."

Rose nodded, surprised by his candor, and relieved to be speaking so openly about things. "I know. I was angry I'll admit. I stayed angry for a while. You need to quit making decisions for me. Sending me away." She looked away briefly before continuing, "But I know. I understand, and I'm not mad anymore, haven't been for a long time. You gave me something precious and I know that." Rose ran her eyes over his face and frowned. "I wonder if it was really best for you though. What happened?"

He knew what she meant and ran a hand over his face, feeling the now familiar features. "Well, I saved the universe you know." He smiled cheekily and was pleased more than he liked to admit when she answered his smile with a genuine one of her own. He sobered slightly as he remembered. "You remember Wilfred? Donna Noble's grandfather?" Rose nodded; he had been a memorable man. She remembered the paint gun he had carried against the daleks. That had been a good idea in theory. The Doctor continued, "He was traveling with me on that particular adventure. And, well… " He trailed off remembering. He had not wanted to die. He had loved being his tenth self. He had loved what Rose had made of him, and really his tenth self had almost been made exactly for her. He smiled slightly, looking at her; it was brilliant, just getting to do that. Look at her. He continued. "It was radiation. Lethal dose. And now here I am. New new me."

Rose moved to the edge of the cot and hung her legs over the side, she dropped to the ground, standing and tugged him up to stand as well. She pulled him to stand beside her and they hugged, hard. The Doctor closed his eyes and turned his head down to burry his face in her hair. He inhaled the impossible scent of her, something he had thought he would never get to do again. They stood like that for a long time before she pulled away. She looked up at him and smiled, "I would love nothing better than to stand here hugging til the end of time, but I need a shower. I smell."

The Doctor shook his head, "I think you smell fine." He relented though, turning to lead her from the room, his hand finding hers and pulling her behind him. It was funny how natural it felt, to hold her hand as he walked. He smiled down at her and she grinned back, squeezing his hand, indicating that she understood exactly what he was thinking. He led her through the halls, stopping outside of her room. He opened the door and watched as she went inside. She stepped inside and sort of stuttered to a stop. She turned back to look at him and he could see that her eyes were overly bright with unshed tears. He smiled gently, understanding her surprise at finding everything just as she had left it. "Will you believe me if I say it was just the TARDIS that decided to keep it this way?"

Rose rolled her eyes and reached out to put her hand on the door. "I'll come find you when I'm clean. I need to tell you what happened."

The Doctor nodded and she shut the door. He stood there for a moment; listening, not hearing her footsteps move away. He was overwhelmed with the need to see her again immediately. He lifted his hand and knocked.

* * *

><p>Rose stood by the door; listening, not hearing his steps move away down the hall. She smiled when he knocked, and pulled the door opened and stood there, looking at him. He had his fist still raised to knock and his other hand stuck firmly in his pocket. He was standing there looking like he wasn't sure what to do now that he had her back.<p>

Rose tilted her head to the side in question and had opened her mouth to speak when he reached out to touch the side of her face with his raised hand. Their eyes locked and he leaned forward, his other hand lifting as well, gently cupping her face. They stayed that way for a moment, separated by maybe an inch of space. She could feel his breath on her lips, and she closed her eyes as she closed that final distance, their lips meeting and both of them simply pausing there, in that beginning moment of a kiss, their lips barely brushing. After a moment he pulled back, the slightest bit and tilted his head, resting his forehead against hers.

His voice was low and almost ragged, like he needed to clear his throat as he spoke, "I understand if… I understand that you probably need time; that this situation is complicated, to say the least. I just need you to know. I need you to know that I have always regretted not telling you. You deserve to know that…" He frowned as he realized that he still had trouble forming the words. He continued forcefully, his voice more clear. "You need to know that I love you Rose Tyler. I think I have almost from the moment I grabbed your hand and told you to run." He pulled back and looked at her face.

Her eyes were opened now and she gave him a watery smile through tears. Rose nodded and took a step back, breaking contact with him completely as his hands dropped from her face to be stuffed into his pockets. She looked at his face and her smile widened, becoming less sad. "I know Doctor. I love you too. It is complicated, but you and me, we'll figure this out. We can't not." She paused then, looking him in the eye for a moment before darting forward to press a quick kiss to his cheek before stepping back and shutting the door softly in his face.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's note: **Thank you for reading, and thank you for reviewing you awesome people who do so. I should probably mention that in this story season 6 hasn't happened and I am just going AU on this. Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think. :)

I do not own Doctor Who. :(

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><p><strong>Chapter 15<strong>

The Doctor was standing in the console room, idly pressing buttons and flipping switches. The TARDIS humored him, not reacting negatively to his random ministrations. He noticed that she was less temperamental than usual and smiled to himself at the reason for it. He needed to do some testing. Find out exactly what ties Rose and the TARDIS had. While it made perfect sense to him that the TARDIS would be fond of Rose, her reactions and what he now knew about Rose and Bad Wolf seemed to indicate that there was more to it than simple affection. He was musing on that when he heard someone entering the room, he turned around, smiling and his smile dimmed slightly when he saw that it wasn't Rose.

Jack smiled at the Doctor's expression, correctly surmising the cause of the Doctor's facial expression. "Good morning to you too Doc. How's Rose?" Jack settled into the jumpseat and stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles. He was carrying a coffee cup and took a sip, watching the doctor over the rim.

The Doctor watched Jack get settled as he turned to face him, leaning back against the console. He pushed his hands into his pockets and nodded, deciding not to correct Jack on his name. "She should be out here any time. Said she wanted to get cleaned up. Have you by any chance seen the Ponds wandering around?"

Jack shook his head, "I think they might not make an appearance for awhile. About the Ponds… Awfully domestic for you isn't that? A married couple?" He was looking at the Doctor with a raised eyebrow, a knowing smile on his face.

"Micky the Idiot was right about you." The Doctor shook his head as he spoke. He had opened his mouth to say more when he saw Jack's expression change as he looked over the Doctor's shoulder. The Doctor turned to watch Rose enter the room as Jack stood and crossed over to her, hugging her tightly.

Jack pulled back and looked at her face, "I am so glad you're ok. Don't scare me like that again Rosie." She smiled at him and they walked back towards the Doctor.

The Doctor was watching her closely, some of the old worry hiding in his eyes as he watched her interact with Jack. She smiled at him, almost amused at his insecurity. She and Jack reached the platform and she crossed to lean against the console next to the Doctor, smiling up at him as Jack resumed his position on the jumpseat. The Doctor smiled down at her and they leaned against one another as they stood there, looking at each other. Rose finally grinned and nudged him in the arm, breaking the moment.

Rose sobered and looked from Jack to the Doctor, she glanced around the room, "I know I need to tell you guys what happened, but, I gotta ask… What happened in here? Not that I don't like it. It's just so different."

The Doctor gestured around the room with a slight smile. "I kinda… exploded the room when I regenerated. So she remodeled. You approve?"

She nodded and smiled at him, "Of course. It's brilliant. Just different." The TARDIS hummed happily at her words and she smiled as she ran a hand along the console. She lifted the same hand to tuck her hair behind her ear and turned serious again. "So I need to tell you, who had Rory and me. Doctor, it was the Master. And there's something wrong with him. He's not right."

Jack spoke up at that, "You mean aside from being -insane-? Isn't he supposed to be dead? He didn't regenerate."

The Doctor was staring own at the floor thoughtfully, he lifted his head after a moment and looked at Rose, "What do you mean exactly by 'not right'?"

Rose and Jack both noticed that the Doctor wasn't particularly surprised to find that the Master was alive. Rose answered his question, realizing from years of experience that if the Doctor wasn't inclined to share how he knew of the Master's not dead state, that he wouldn't elaborate no matter how she pestered. She also felt like he knew what she had meant by 'not right' already and was simply confirming something. She looked at him as she spoke, "Well one thing, he actually shot lightning at me. From his hands; like something out of Star Wars. And he seemed to be burning. Something' inside of him was just, eating him up." She shuddered slightly at the memory of how wrong he felt.

The Doctor looked at her closely, noting her reaction with some concern. "What did he want with you? Did he tell you his plans?"

"Well he was in New York, said he wanted to steal past you's TARDIS. He wanted to try to change what happened." She noted the Doctor's look of horror at that and nodded her agreement. "I know. I was shocked too. He said either it would work and he wouldn't be stuck that way, or it wouldn't and everything would cease to exist and he wouldn't be stuck that way. I don't think he cared much which way it went."

Jack spoke next, "You stopped him?"

Rose shook her head slowly, "Not exactly. He attacked me, to get my TARDIS key." She squeezed the Doctor's arm reassuringly when she felt him tense next to her. "I think he tried to… Eat me? Suck out my life force? Not really sure of the right terminology there…" She trailed off a bit, remembering the feeling of her life seeming to be funneled away; it had been brief, but frightening. "Bad Wolf didn't like that I guess. Fought back. He was definitely scared when he realized what was happening. He ran off."

Rose shifted slightly against the console and smiled as she felt the Doctor's arm move to rest around her shoulders. She had missed him so much. She leaned her head against his chest briefly before continuing her story. "He believed I could make him better, talked about me changing Jack." Her eyes met Jack's for a moment. "I told him that I don't have conscious control of the power. He was experimenting. Trying to bring Bad Wolf up out of my subconscious. I guess he thought he could force me to cooperate." She smiled up at the Doctor when he tightened his arm around her shoulders. She looked from him to Jack and back again. "Thank you for coming to rescue us. Where is Rory by the way?"

Jack grinned at her, "I believe Rory the rascally rabbit is with his wife in their room."

Rose blushed and dropped her chin to her chest, closing her eyes. "I cannot -believe- how I acted. I don't remember much, but what I do…" She broke off with a strangled sound that was sort of a groan and Jack laughed at her.

"Hell, I hope I can manage a double escape and shoot my way out of a place like that while high as a kite." He smirked at her as she reached up a hand to cover her face. It was good to see her and the Doctor so relaxed together. He was glad things seemed to be going so well so far. He had felt truly terrible when she had disappeared. He had honestly believed that telling her before he told the Doctor was the best thing to do, but when he had lost that opportunity, he had been scared that he had screwed up irrevocably. And the last person he wanted to screw things up for was Rose.

The Doctor found himself agreeing with Jack, even though he hated weapons, he was happy that Rose seemed to know how to use one. Best not think too hard on that right this minute he decided. He asked, "The Master wasn't there though? I'm sure I would have sensed him."

Rose shook her head no, "I'm guessing eating your employees is bad for business. He was overseeing the testing from somewhere else. I don't know where."

The Doctor nodded thoughtfully and then abruptly brightened, "Well, you're here now." He gave her shoulders another squeeze as he said that. "So while we definitely need to be on the look out for him, stop him running around eating people and trying to take over the universe and things as he's wont to do… You should be safe though." He nodded to himself and released Rose, turning to face the controls. "Back to Cardiff then? Return Jack to work and… " He looked up at Rose uncertainly. He assumed she would want to come back… Hoped more than he liked to believe he hoped that she would want to come back.

Seeming to sense some of what the Doctor was thinking, Rose smiled gently. "That sounds brilliant Doctor. I need to get some things from my flat." She reached over and grasped his hand for a moment before turning to sit by Jack. He had been watching the two of them with a knowing smirk on his face and she punched him lightly in the arm.

Jack and Rose clung to the seat as the TARDIS jerked to a stop. They waited a beat after it had settled before standing. The Doctor had reached out a hand to shake Jack's when Jack ignored it and hugged him. "Don't stay away so much Doc. You had better be bringing her back to visit."

The Doctor grumbled slightly at the deliberate misuse of his name and smiled back at Jack. "Right. Try not to get into too much trouble." Jack grinned and walked from the TARDIS, calling over his shoulder to give his regards to Amy and Rory. The Doctor watched him leave then turned to Rose who was standing there with a slight smile on her face. The Doctor looked at her for a moment, again reveling in the sheer joy of even being able to do so before he took a step, closing the distance between them and wrapped her in his arms.

They stood for a while, clinging to each other before Rose pulled back slightly, looking up into his face. "I won't be long. Don't you dare leave without me."

"I would never do that." The Doctor smiled down at her and lifted a hand to her face, cupping her jaw and running his thumb along her cheek. "Hurry back though. Have I got plans… I was thinking Barcelona. The planet, not the city. You know…"

"Dogs with no noses?" Rose finished with a grin and he smiled back at her, dropping his hand and letting her go. She left the TARDIS, looking back at him once before stepping outside, and he was amazed at how adrift he felt, now that she had left.

The TARDIS brushed a slightly discontent feeling across his mind and he directed his gaze to the console, "Oh stop it, she'll be back."

* * *

><p>The Doctor knew that he was procrastinating. He should be translating ancient cave paintings, not sitting in the kitchen eating fish custard. Amy had pointed that out to him rather firmly before leaving the room, distaste clear on her features at his choice of food. She and Rory had finally seen fit to leave their room, and the Doctor smiled to himself slightly as he heard another whispered conversation about bunk beds. They had left him alone after he had explained that they were in Cardiff again, they had left the TARDIS expressing a desire to do some grocery shopping. Like fish custard and jammy dodgers weren't enough for them.<p>

He took another bite and almost dropped his spoon at the sound of a throat clearing behind him. Rose grinned at the fact that she had obviously surprised him. His thoughts must've been rather distracted for her to be able to accomplish that. Especially without even trying. She moved in to the room and sniffed at what he was eating, her lip curling slightly. "Is that… Is that fish custard? Really? I thought for sure Rory was making that up. Cracked under the pressure or something."

The Doctor arched an eyebrow at her, his head tilting back a bit in mock offense. "You really shouldn't knock it till you've tried it Rose. Honestly, open mind, remember?"

Rose rolled her eyes and held out a hand, gesturing impatiently to his spoon before he understood what she wanted. He handed it over and couldn't help a grin as she dutifully ate a bite of the custard. She seemed to deliberate for a moment before she nodded, "Yeah, still think it's gross." She smiled cheekily at him and walked to the counter across from him, starting to make a pot of tea. He watched her as she went through the familiar motions; he was startled out of his contemplation of how perfect her hands actually were when she asked. "So, new new you… Bananas still brilliant?"

He held a hand to his chest in alarm, "Oh Rose, bananas are magnificent. The day I regenerate and don't believe bananas are good, we need to pilot the TARDIS straight into a sun, cause the universe is obviously collapsing."

Rose grinned, her tongue touching her teeth. He smiled back at her happily as she poured herself a cup of tea and came to sit across from him. She settled into her seat and looked him up and down. "So… a bow tie?"

"Rose, bow ties are cool."

She took a sip of her tea, shaking her head and smiling. He had sounded so long suffering as he said that, she had the feeling he was made to explain it pretty often. "Right then. Well, I know of no one else who could pull off that look and remain quite so… "

The Doctor thought of several ways to finish her sentence and started to list them, "Dashing? Debonair? Dapper? Ooh, too many d's… Sexy?" He winked at her and was startled to see her answering smile start to waver a bit before crumbling completely. She looked down at her tea, preventing him from getting a look at her facial expression; He reached across the table to grasp her hand, holding it tightly. "I'm sorry Rose, really… I …"

Rose shook her head and lifted her face to meet his eyes, hers were damp, but she smiled at him and it looked genuine. "No, Doctor, it's alright." She took a deep breath and squeezed his hand, "It's just so strange. You're him, but you're not him. I just need some time to get used to that. I'm sorry."

"You don't need to be." The Doctor brought his other hand to hers, holding it tightly between both of his, "You don't need to be sorry Rose. And remember, we have a pretty long forever. Just tell me what to do."

She sighed and shook her head, "Honestly I think you just need to be you. And you're already doing that. Thanks for being patient. I love you, you know."

"Too right, too." The Doctor smiled at her, "And I love you Rose Tyler." He paused, gauging her mood before asking, "Should I be calling you that?" His finger brushed her rings and she looked down at them before looking up at him and grinning at him, most traces of her earlier tears gone.

"Oh, yes. Apparently all -you's- have some confusion about the name thing with marriage. I'm still Rose Tyler."

They sat for a while, comfortable in each other's presence. He finished his custard and she smiled teasingly at him as she drank her tea. Finally Rose shifted in her seat, taking something from her pocket. She looked at the small package in her hand, then up at him. "This is for you."

The Doctor looked at the package, then at her face. "What is it?

Rose shrugged, "I don't really know. I found it in some of John's things… There was a note with it. Asked me to give it to you when I found you." They both paused at that. At the other him's absolute certainty that she would come back to him. It was both beautiful and tragic. She held it out and the Doctor took it from her. They looked at it sitting in his hand for a moment before he stood, brushing a light kiss against her forehead as he passed her, leaving the room to open it in private.

She watched him leave and poured herself another cup of tea, sitting again and wondering what it was she had just handed him. She stared down into her tea as she contemplated her current position. She loved the Doctor. Always had. She had loved John, who in most every way was the Doctor. She grieved for him still, but at the same time it was like she still had him when she was with the Doctor. The conundrum of it all made her head hurt. And made her feel guilty. She was so happy when she was with him, and even though she knew that that was what John had wanted, it still made her feel disloyal to him that she felt that way.

She sighed heavily and took a drink of her tea. She looked up and was slightly startled to meet the brown eyes of Rory's wife Amy as she stood in the kitchen doorway. She was carrying a couple of grocery bags and watching Rose curiously. Rose smiled at her and stood up, holding out a hand, "Want a hand with that?"

Amy nodded and held out a bag. "Sure. That'd be good." They moved to the counter together and started putting away the groceries. Rose was smiling to herself at the almost palpable curiosity that seemed to be emanating from Amy in waves.

She decided to throw Amy a bone by starting the conversation. "It's nice to properly meet you. Rory told me a lot about you." Amy looked at her for a moment and the both of them eyed each other almost warily, trying to decide where exactly they stood.

"Rory told me a lot about you too." Amy reached for the pot of tea and poured herself a cup. She gestured to the table and she and Rose sat across from each other, still a bit unsure. Amy looked at her with her head tilted to the side and finally said, "I thought for sure River was his wife."

Rose inhaled part of the drink she had been in the middle of taking and coughed several times before catching her breath, "You mean River… Song?" She was silent for a moment, trying to remember what the Doctor had told her of the encounter in the Library. She thought of the Doctor saying he loved her… She wondered if this was a mistake. Had she altered his timeline by coming back? Was she in the way now, for him and… River?

Amy seemed to realize that she had set off a very unpleasant cascade of thoughts in Rose's mind and interrupted her quickly, "It's completely obvious though that he loves you. It just makes me wonder who she is all over again." She waited until Rose had looked back at her. "I mean, she knows who you are apparently."

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, curious as to what River had said about her.

"Well, she took us to this place where there was this big painting of you. Talked like she knew who you were, she just wasn't saying." Amy took a drink of her tea before continuing, "She's like that though. Frustrating. I want to know, and she doesn't tell." Amy had a look on her face that indicated this was considered a pretty big offense by her.

Rose thought about that and looked curiously at Amy, "What do you mean there was a big painting of me?"

Amy stood, "Com'n, I'll show you."

* * *

><p>The Doctor was sitting in his room. He was staring at the contents of the package Rose had given him. He had been doing so for some time.<p>

He knew exactly what it was, and wondered how a part human version of himself had managed to make it. He supposed the how of things didn't really matter. It wouldn't change the fact that it was sitting in front of him. He reached out and brushed his index finger against the smooth material, it was warm, and almost pulsing with the energy of what it contained. The Doctor contemplated the possible contents, his mind going through several possibilities even though he was pretty positive that he knew exactly what was in it.

This little box held the consciousness of the other him. His memories, his hopes, experiences, thoughts, feelings… The Doctor wondered what would happen once he had opened it. He wanted too. He wanted to experience the memories of the one adventure he would never have. The adventure that this version of him had gotten to live. He wondered how Rose would feel about this. She was already confused, he could tell. Would him for all intents and purposes 'syncing' with his other self make things better or worse for her?

He decided that for the first time, when making a decision that could affect her so deeply, he should ask her first.

Having made that decision, he stood quickly and went to look for Rose.

* * *

><p>He was surprised when he found her; she and Amy had their heads bent over a table in the library. He wondered what they were doing, and came closer silently, trying to eavesdrop on them. The jig was up as Rory came into the room behind him and asked, "Rose, how is that wound?" He walked past the Doctor, coming to stand by Amy as he waited for a response.<p>

Rose looked at the Doctor, where he stood halfway into the room and smiled like she knew what he had been up to before she turned to answer Rory, "Oh it's fine. Should be good as new in no time." She looked at Rory with some awkwardness, trying to decide how exactly to apologize for her outlandish behavior when he smiled at her, seeming to guess what she was about.

He shook his head. "You were great Rose, I mean, I'll admit that it was hilarious in places, but really, you got us out of there." He looked down at the photos Rose and Amy had been looking at and asked, "Ooh, did Rose have any ideas about what all this was?"

The Doctor had come to stand with the others at the table and was looking down at a photo of the painting of Rose. He decided to wait on asking her thoughts about what the other Doctor had given him, and focus instead on the paintings. He looked at Rose, echoing Rory's question, "I was planning to ask you what you thought about all of this Rose."

Rose looked down at the photos that were spread on the table and then looked up into the Doctor's face. "I honestly don't know Doctor, but that's definitely me." She looked at the photo of the painting that had depicted her in full Bad Wolf mode. "Well, not -me-, but Bad Wolf. Do you think it's bad? Am I about to cause the end of the universe or something?" She was genuinely concerned. Bad Wolf frightened her, and it made her nervous beyond words to see this depiction of herself.

The Doctor put a hand on Rose's shoulder and Amy watched as the two of them stood, so close but not quite touching. The look on his face was one Amy had never seen there before, and she decided for sure then and there that Rose really was who the Doctor loved, and that River was something else entirely. The loneliness she had always sensed in him, that potential for incredible sadness seemed gone entirely when he was with Rose, and as his friend that was lovely to see. The Doctor lifted his other hand to Rose's face and turned her to look at him instead of the photo. "We'll figure it out Rose. And we will face whatever it means together, yeah?"

Rose looked into his face searchingly for a moment and then closed her eyes and leaned into his hand. She sighed and pulled away from him, remembering their audience. It was odd, she had never felt awkward being all touchy feely with the Doctor before when she had traveled with him. Another consequence of the stress of the situation she supposed. She gestured to the photos and asked, "Is it possible to go see it again? I wouldn't mind seeing the real thing."

"Of course Rose Tyler, anywhere you want to go." The Doctor grinned at her and she grinned back, his excitement at showing her something contagious. It was almost like old times. He turned and walked briskly, heading for the console room, grasping her hand tightly in his and pulling her with him. He called over his shoulder as they left the library, "Coming Ponds?"

Amy and Rory looked at each other for a moment and then Amy grinned and took off after them, Rory following closely behind her.


	16. Chapter 16

Yay, another double update.

I still own nothing.

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><p><strong>Chapter 16<strong>

Rose stood next to the Doctor at the console, watching with a wide smile as he danced around flipping switches and hitting buttons. Amy and Rory had come into the room and settled on the jumpseat, hanging on tight in preparation for the bumpy landing they were all expecting. The Doctor paused for a moment, looking at Rose with a cheeky smile before flipping the final switch that sent them on their way. Rose and the Doctor clung to the console as the TARDIS jerked to a landing.

The Doctor spun from the console and grabbed Rose's hand, smiling at her before hurrying for the doors, snapping his fingers causing them to open. Rose paused at that, tugging the Doctor to a stop. He looked back at her to find her looking at him with a funny smile on her face. "Is that new too? The snapping thing?"

He looked at her sheepishly, remembering that River was the person who introduced to him the notion of opening the doors with a snap of his fingers. He wondered for the first time since finding Rose again what exactly that would mean with River. He was so unsure of her in general, and she had never said who she really was. The return of Rose, and even the fact that River had almost helped orchestrate his finding her made him wonder even more. Who was River Song really? He snapped out of his musings as Rose tugged on his hand slightly, and he looked at her as she smirked at his obvious distraction. "Yes, well, the snapping thing… thought it was cool. You don't think it's cool?" He looked at her doubtfully and smiled when she rolled her eyes at him.

"Of course, it's very cool Doctor." She smiled at the look on his face; he could tell she was humoring him just a bit.

They both turned to look at the doors as Amy said, "Doctor, I don't think we're in the right place."

The Doctor frowned and crossed quickly to the doors, looking out. Amy was right. This was not the place he had meant to land. Definitely not. He stepped outside to stand next to Rory who had already left the TARDIS and was standing staring out at the barren landscape. Almost as far as they could see was desert. The Doctor turned in a slow circle and saw a largish city some ways away, it was surrounded by a tall wall, the same dusty color of brown as the area all around them. He looked back at the TARDIS, seeing Rose and Amy standing outside of it, looking off in the direction of the city in the distance. "Well, I have no idea where we are. Kind of exciting actually. So, what do you say Rose, Ponds?" He held out a hand to Rose with a smile and said, "Shall we?"

Rose smiled back and reached out, taking his hand. They started walking towards the city, Amy and Rory following behind them.

* * *

><p>It was hot. Really scorching, Rose thought as they walked. A trick of perspective made it seem like they were never going to reach the city. She gave the Doctor's hand a squeeze and then let it go, it was really just too hot to be holding hands. She reached up and twisted her hair into a messy bun and wished she had something to hold it with. She was aware of the Doctor rummaging through his pockets for a moment and then pulling out a pencil, he held it out to her wordlessly and she took it gratefully, stabbing it through her hair and feeling relieved when it stayed mostly in place. That was a bit of an improvement. "Thanks Doctor." She decided that any comfort gained by not holding his hand was negligible and reached out to catch it again, smiling to herself as they continued on hand in hand.<p>

Amy had set herself to observing the Doctor and Rose as they interacted and she rolled her eyes a bit. They were so attuned to each other. It was highly amusing to watch the -Doctor- of all people pay enough attention to help a woman with her hair. Crazy, that.

It really was insanely hot. She had shrugged off the jacket she had been wearing quite some time ago, but found that even the weight of it on her arm was uncomfortable in this heat. She glanced over at Rory to see how he was handling it and smiled inwardly at his sweat-dampened shirt. Always good to be joined in misery. She looked back up at Rose and the Doctor, noting that Rose looked just as uncomfortable as she was. Maybe even more so as she was wearing jeans. That couldn't feel good. The Doctor had shed his jacket, but honestly it was infuriating that he looked mostly unaffected by the heat.

Rose seemed to be contemplating the same thing as she looked sideways at the Doctor, "Aren't you hot? You could push up your sleeves or something."

The Doctor looked down at her with an almost smug smile, "Oh, it's a bit warm to be sure, but I'm fine. Superior biology and all that."

Rose rolled her eyes at him and asked, "How much longer do you figure? Feels like we've been walking for ages and we aren't any closer."

He looked at the sky, then at the city, then back at the TARDIS. He turned back and forth, his eyes taking in those three sights several times before looking back at Rose with a frown. "You're right. Even accounting for perspective, or for more curvature of the planetary plain than one would be accustomed to on earth… There isn't an explanation for the discrepancies in the distance we have traveled and the distance we appear to have left to go." The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and moved away from Rose, running it in several directions and muttering to himself.

Amy and Rory stepped up to stand beside Rose, "What's going on then?" Amy asked.

Rose looked at her and then at the city, a frown on her face as well. "We should be closer. And it's not just the mirage effect. We really -should- be closer." Rose looked back at the TARDIS and it seemed to her that it looked farther away than it should as well. It was a tiny speck on the horizon. She sighed and looked over at the Doctor as he scanned and muttered. She wished she had her own sonic with her. If she had been in her right mind she would have looked for it before leaving that space station she and Rory had been held on. It had been a very long time since she had been forced to do without it, and her hand almost itched for it. "And I think the TARDIS is farther away than it should be." She threw another envious glance at the Doctor with his sonic and then called over to him, "Maybe we should try heading back to the TARDIS, yeah?" She looked at the sky, noting that the twin suns on this planet were both rather lower than they had been when they started out.

The Doctor moved over to join the others and flapped his arms slightly in a gesture of frustration. "Nothing. There are no readings. It's like this… place… everything, it shouldn't be here, because it isn't here." He turned from the others, touching his chin thoughtfully. He answered Rose's earlier question. "Yes, I suppose we might as well try heading back to the TARDIS. See what happens."

They set off for the TARDIS, the mood noticeably more somber than when they had set out. The Doctor was walking slightly ahead of the rest of the group and Rose, Amy, and Rory had fallen into step together. Rose noted that even though they had been walking for almost another hour, the TARDIS was still a little speck in the distance, exactly the same size as when they had started. And it was so bloody -hot-. Rose stopped for a moment, a sudden impulse overcoming her. She bent over and reached out for the sand they had been walking on, shock swept over her as her fingers brushed against, not scorching hot sand, but something smooth, and cool. She stood, intending to call out to the others when she felt a searing pain in her head and fell over sideways, unconscious.

Amy and Rory had stopped when they realized that Rose had lagged behind. Amy turned to look at her as she bent over for a moment and wondered if maybe the heat was making her sick. Rory must have thought the same thing, because he had taken a step towards Rose when she suddenly stood abruptly up and then went over like a tree. The both of them rushed towards her, Rory reaching her first. He knelt down at her side, reaching to check for a pulse.

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><p>In a sterile white room, two technicians monitored the progress of their subjects, one of them swearing and rapidly typing, "One of them broke the imprint. Who didn't think to program the floor? I took her out before she could alert the others, but you need to fix that. Now."<p>

The other person gasped at the oversight that had been pointed out to her and quickly typed in some commands to the computer in front of her. "There, that should do it. When we find out who did that, heads will roll. We could have lost all four." She leaned over to glance at the other's screen. "How are you going to… Ah, that's a good idea. We should get some useful readings off of that."

The first man nodded in agreement and sent a command for someone to retrieve the failed subject. "Yes we should. I'm thinking we put the failure in one of the survival programs. She thinks outside the box. Could be useful."

"Yes, definitely. I'll put in the request. That's an excellent idea." Her fingers flew over the keys and that done, she returned to monitoring the other three subjects.

Both technicians were blissfully unaware of the Oncoming Storm that had just been set into motion.

* * *

><p>The Doctor became aware that something was not right when he heard the exclamation of shock that Amy let out. He turned to see Rory kneeling down beside the prone form of Rose, and his hearts nearly stuttered to a stop. He rushed towards them, pulling out his sonic and activating it, running it over her. He heard Amy asking what was wrong, and he heard Rory answer that he didn't know. She had a pulse and was breathing normally. The Doctor stopped his scanning and was looking down at her face with a sense of near panic. "What was she doing? What was she doing right before this happened?"<p>

Amy shook her head, "I don't know Doctor… She was bent over, then she stood up and… Fainted or something."

The Doctor murmured almost too low for them to hear as he thought of the results of his scan, "It's like she isn't here." He felt the overwhelming sense of loss and panic, had he lost her again?

Rory interrupted his thoughts, "What do you mean, she's not here? She's right here. Breathing, heart beat…" He trailed off as the Doctor looked at him, he had to drop his eyes at the look in the Doctor's face.

Amy looked from the Doctor to Rose, she had seen the Doctor in lots of scary situations, but he was seriously frightening her right now. "Doctor… What is it?"

He didn't look up from Rose's face when he answered. "The readings. She's like the city, like everything else. She isn't here." He reached for her hand and grasped it tightly, like he was trying to reassure himself of her physical presence. He noticed then that something wasn't right, he leaned back, carefully schooling his features and his thoughts. He scooped this not-Rose into his arms and set off in the direction of the not-TARDIS, needing time to think of what to do. He actually needed a plan. Amy and Rory followed him closely, obvious worry etched on their faces. He couldn't tell them though, couldn't risk them finding out until he had a plan.

Now… plan… plan… plan.

He really was rubbish at planning.

* * *

><p>Rose came to slowly, first hearing noises around her, low murmurings of conversation, and then she could smell, damp earthiness, reminding her of a basement. She felt chilled and was unaccountably relieved by that for some reason. She frowned, her eyes still closed as she thought on that.<p>

Why would she be happy to be cold? It wasn't to be cold; it was to not be hot. That was it. Not overly helpful, that. She opened her eyes, remaining still as she took in her surroundings. It was rather dark, and the walls looked like dirt. Maybe she had been right about the basement part. The voices were coming from a flickering light source in a corner. Two people. Arguing from the sound of it. About her. Rose sat up slowly and the voices stopped, one of the people, a boy, maybe late teens, came towards her and held out a canteen. She took it from him and looked at it suspiciously.

"Don't worry, it's just water. Have to ration it, so try not to drink too much." He looked at her nervously and she took in his dirt streaked face and long hair. His clothes, what she could see of them in this dark, were tattered and caked with grime. Rose glanced down at herself, relieved to see that she was relatively clean.

"Thank you." She took a small sip, trying not to be greedy. Now that she noticed though, her mouth was dry as a desert…. What was that about a desert? She frowned. "Where am I?"

"You're at base camp delta. You were just brought in; did you buck one of the other programs? Do you remember?" He took the canteen as she passed it back to him. He was watching her closely. The other person had come forward and was listening to their conversation. She was a young blonde woman, and she looked at Rose with obvious dislike.

Rose shook her head slowly, "I don't know… I seem to be having trouble remembering… " Rose looked over at the girl as she snorted in disgust. "Have I done something to offend you? What's your problem?"

The girl looked at Rose with disdain, "My problem is that they sent you. And you are obviously going to get us killed."

Rose was starting to feel rather pissed off. She shifted into a kneeling position and looked around the room again, "Well, maybe if instead of being angry with me for not understanding, you explained what was happening, things would work out a bit better." The girl rolled her eyes and crossed back to the corner, sitting with her back to them.

The boy was looking from one to the other of them, and taking a deep breath turned back to Rose, "This is a survival course. Where we are, they run people through simulations as experiments or something. This isn't a simulation though. You don't make it through this one you actually die. People usually get sent here because they won't stay in the other programs." He looked back at the other girl and nodded at her, "Jenny here, she's been through this course 41 times. Still alive, that's like a record. She makes it one more and she gets out of here. Supposedly. It's teams of three; you're a replacement for Rick. He was with us for 5 cycles." He added almost as an afterthought, "I'm Bryan by the way."

Rose looked at him for a moment, and then looked around the room again, "But why? I was on a ship… and then I was just here. That's just…"

"You'll remember. The drugs they give you to keep you in the other programs suppress your memory. It'll come back as it leaves your system." He stood and crossed over to the corner with the light, picking up a pack and bringing it back over. "This is your gear. It starts in a little over an hour, so get ready." He set the pack down and stood there for a second before asking, almost like he didn't really want to know. "What's your name?"

She looked up at him her hands clutching the pack; she could understand his reluctance. If she was going to die, it might be nicer for him not to know. "Rose, I'm Rose. And I'm not gonna die here."

He nodded at her statement and smiled slightly, obviously not believing her. "Well, get ready. It'll be rough out there, and if you don't plan on dying, you need to be prepared." With that statement he turned back and went over to sit down near Jenny.

Rose took a deep breath and opened the bag, looking inside warily.

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><p>Sighing in frustration the Doctor stopped, sensing the Ponds coming to a stop behind him. He gingerly set the not-Rose down on the ground and looked around. The suns had set, but the temperature seemed to remain the same, another dead give away. He looked back at Amy and Rory for a moment, wondering if there was a way to let them in on what he was about to do. He shook his head slightly, not if he wanted the element of surprise he supposed.<p>

He saw Amy jump slightly as he suddenly bellowed out, "Alright, I know this isn't real. I know you've got us hooked into some kind of program. I don't know what you did to Rose, but I am giving you this one chance to stop. Let us out, return Rose to me unharmed, and we can just part ways." He paced as he spoke, directing his words to the sky. "You should seriously consider my offer. I don't know if you know who I am, so I'm going to tell you. I am the Doctor, and if there is one thing you never, ever want to do, it's this. You do -not- want to put me in a trap and endanger those I care about. This is your one chance to stop. So? What is your choice?" He tilted his head as he looked up at the sky, waiting for an answer.


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's note: **Ok, so I am not really sure how happy I am with this chapter, but if I keep picking at it, I will never get it posted. So, here goes.

Thank you for reading, and thank you so much for the awesome reviews, definitely makes me update faster. Like now, while on vacation and receiving dirty looks from the people I am supposed to be hanging out with instead of constantly revising this chapter. :)

I don't own Doctor Who, if I did there would totally be a full season planned for 2012. Stupid economy.

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><p><strong>Chapter 17<strong>

The Doctor stood, glaring at the sky and waited a moment. And waited a moment more. Finally his shoulders slumped slightly, "Well, this is awkward."

Amy stepped up beside him, looking at his face curiously, "What now? Do you have a plan?"

"That was my plan…" He trailed off and pulled out his sonic, glaring at it for not working in this place.

"What, yelling at the sky? That was your big plan?" She looked at him in disbelief, and some frustration.

"One of these days that is totally going to work." He put the sonic back into his pocket with some finality, wasn't doing him any good here anyway. He clapped his hands together, "All right then... New plan." He looked around between Amy and Rory, trying to decide what to do. He reached up a hand and ran it through his hair, and then he stopped and dropped it to his side, of course. Could work. He stepped over to Amy and Rory grabbing their hands, "Alright, here's the thing, this is some kind of projection inside of our heads." He looked at their faces to be sure they were following him, "I should be able to break it, but I will have to get you out from the outside." He saw understanding dawn on their faces and they looked at each other then back at him.

Amy nodded firmly and, speaking for both of them, said, "Do it."

He smiled and squeezed their hands; "I will get you out of here. I promise." They nodded and he smiled wider at their trust in him, he dropped their hands and stepped back, glancing at the form of Rose on the ground for a moment, stealing himself. He closed his eyes and lifted his hands to his temples, using the force of his mind to smash through the mental programming.

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><p>The Doctor sat up rather suddenly, and then grabbed his head, wincing in pain. He looked at his arm, grasping the iv there and pulling it out. He swung his legs over the side of the platform he was on and stared at the image in front of him, an unending row of platforms, each with a person laying on it. He reached up to his head and pulled off the sensors that were stuck to it as he turned to look the other direction. There were Amy and Rory, still hooked up and there was an empty space, where he assumed Rose had been. He stood and moved to Rory on the platform directly next to the one he had just left. He reached for his sonic, relieved to find it still there. He scanned Rory for a moment before pulling out the iv and unhooking him from the massive computer that ran the length of the wall above them. He set his hands on Rory's temples and closed his eyes, doing his best to avoid intruding on the man's thoughts as he broke the program he was connected to. Rory started to stir, and satisfied with that, the Doctor moved to release Amy as well.<p>

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><p>Rose was crouching behind some kind of large rock formation and wondering how the hell things had come to this. She was wearing a dark sweater that had been in the bag she had been given, and was holding a small energy pistol. The sweater and pistol had both belonged to someone before her, and she was trying hard not to think about the stains that discolored it. She looked over at her new 'teammates' and then off in the distance at the building that they supposedly had to reach. To her way of thinking if someone wanted them to go that way, they should probably be heading as fast as they could in the other direction. She had noted that there were some kind of sensors embedded in the environment, and she longed for her sonic screwdriver so she could figure out what exactly they were sensing for, it had to be more than simply monitoring their locations. And she thought that knowing what they were trying to pick up would go a long way towards figuring out what was happening, and how to get out of it.<p>

Rose hoped that the Doctor and the Ponds were all right, she wondered if they were in a place like this now, or if they were still wandering around in that desert. She wondered what had happened to her in their minds. Her musings were scattered as she ducked instinctively as something exploded nearby, sending splinters of wood and clods of dirt showering over them. Jenny and Bryan started to edge around the rocks and Rose reluctantly followed, keeping an eye out for whatever was stalking them.

She caught movement to their left and lifted her gun, deliberating on whether or not she was actually going to be able to shoot. She had no way of knowing who would even be there, it could be other trapped people just like her, it would make sense she thought, for their captors to pit people against each other that way. She squinted, trying to make out details when a shot fired from behind her, and the movement to her right stopped with a mechanical crooning sound. She looked back and saw that Jenny had taken the shot and was looking at Rose with even more disgust than she had been previously.

"Maybe you could tell me what it is we are fighting? I don't want to shoot people." She hissed the words angrily; this girl was really pissing her off.

Bryan interrupted, shooting a wary glance at Jenny as he answered Rose's question, "Droids. They aren't alive."

Rose nodded satisfied and they crept forward again. They cleared the rocks and took turns moving to another point of cover, Rose acquitting herself well as she took out a droid that had nearly gotten the drop on Bryan. She was feeling relatively confident when she heard a high pitched whirring sound and looked up to where it seemed to be coming from, darting behind cover just in time as it sprinkled their location with weapons fire. She watched in horror as Bryan was cut down with a shot to his midsection and Jenny barely made it to cover ahead of her, after taking a hit in the leg. The flying droid continued to hound Jenny, trying to finish the job. That gave Rose a chance to circle around and get a good look at it, deciding to shoot for what looked like a sensor array located on top of it. The next time it tilted as it swung around for another attack, Rose took a deep breath and shot, ducking again as the machine exploded in the air above her.

After the shrapnel had cleared Rose ducked out, and keeping a wary eye on her surroundings, made her way to where she had seen Jenny take cover. She saw the blonde girl laying on the ground and knelt as she reached her, putting out a hand to check her pulse. Rose frowned and looked at Jenny's face. The girl had a pulse, that was for sure. And unless Rose was pretty mistaken, the girl had a pulse that indicated she had two hearts.

A girl named Jenny. A girl named Jenny with two hearts. What were the chances of that?

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><p>Amy and Rory supported each other as they stood behind the Doctor. He was fiddling with a computer panel on the wall, and it seemed to them that his movements seemed much more angry and jerky than usual. Amy watched him with more than a little jealousy, he seemed to have recovered completely from whatever drugs had been given to them, she and Rory were still rather woozy.<p>

The Doctor finally turned from the screen and stared down the hallway intently. He looked at the two of them for a moment and took a step closer to them, "It seems that the people are all hooked into programs similar to the one we were in. The sensors are feeding some sort of energy into these computers, distilling it and doing something with it…" He trailed off and tapped his sonic screwdriver absently against his palm, "All of these people, hundreds across several levels. Definitely need to put a stop to this, but first, we need to find Rose. Which means we should find the people in charge." He looked first one way then the other as he decided which way to go.

"Why haven't we set off any alarms or something? Seems awfully odd for no one to have noticed us walking about." Amy asked before he could dart off, it seemed really unusual that they hadn't attracted any attention. Rose had been gone so quickly, seemed inconsistent in the extreme.

The Doctor seemed to consider that for a moment, then shook his head. "In terms of finding the people in charge, would be better -too- have set off some alarms. It does seem that they aren't paying attention anymore for some reason. Best find out what that reason is. Come along Ponds."

He set off, having decided on a direction apparently. Amy patted Rory's arm soothingly and whispered, "Don't worry, I know our last name." as they took off after the Doctor.

* * *

><p>Rose kept herself busy while Jenny was unconscious. She had moved Bryan's body out of the open, and had stared at him for a while in absolute misery. This was all so pointless, this death. The people responsible for this… she was going to put a stop to it somehow. She had checked out the wound on Jenny's leg, even though if the girl was who she thought she was, it would probably be just fine even if she had left it alone. She looked at the girl's face and thought about what she knew about her, for one thing, she was dead. Rose wondered what was up with that… her constant meeting of dead people. Well, dead Time Lords. She supposed that that in itself should explain things. The girl's attitude towards fighting made some sense. Even if she had seemed to come around to the Doctor's way of thinking before she had died, being put in a position like this would definitely make one revert to training.<p>

Rose maintained their position, and had fought off a couple more droids before Jenny awoke. Rose moved to her side and helped her sit up, gauging her facial expression, Jenny seemed surprised that Rose was still there. Rose wondered whether it was surprise that she had stayed with her, or simply surprise that she was still alive. She decided to speak first, since she didn't really care to find out.

"Couldn't help but notice that you have two hearts, Jenny." She watched as Jenny looked at her warily, and Rose smiled slightly at her. "I happen to know someone else with that particular trait, not gonna hate you for it or anything. I do have to ask though… Aren't you supposed to be dead? Did you regenerate?"

Jenny bit her lip and shook her head, "No, I didn't regenerate. I just didn't really stay dead… How do you know who I am? You know someone else like me, you mean the Doctor?" Rose nodded and watched the girl's expression; it was kind of nervous, hopeful. Jenny asked, "So you travel with him then? And he… He talks about me?"

Rose took a deep breath and thought of how best to answer that, she spoke slowly, "Well, it's kind of complicated. I, uh, well, the Doctor and I were talking about children, and he told me about you. He was very affected by your death. Well, what he thought was your death. I know he will be happy to know that you're alive."

"You were… talking about children? Like, about -having- children?" Jenny was looking at her in a way that made Rose vaguely nervous. She wished she had thought of another way to phrase that. Jenny continued, "Did you? Have children? Are you and he… " She trailed off, continuing to look at Rose with an appraising look on her face.

"It really is complicated. Really, we can talk about it later. When we don't need guns. And you aren't bleeding." Rose was unaccountably flustered. Going from such an antagonistic relationship to… whatever they were now, was just strange.

Jenny tilted her head to the side and smiled slightly. "You -are- I can so tell! So, are you my mummy?" She laughed, then waved her hand dismissively as Rose started to protest. She was apparently enjoying Rose's discomfiture. "All right, all right… mum."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Right then. We need to get out of here, almost time for another attack I'm guessing. So… " Rose leaned around the edge of the rock they were holed up behind and scanned the area. She turned back to Jenny, pleased to see her moving around reasonably well despite the wounds. "I am thinking we should push in that direction." She pointed away from the end goal and towards the area she had noticed most of the attacks seemed to be originating from. She saw Jenny shaking her head, opening her mouth to speak and Rose cut her off. "Jenny, do you really think they are going to let you go when you finish your forty-second run?"

Jenny blew out a sigh and shook her head. "No, not really." She stood gingerly and looked around to the direction Rose had indicated and then looked back at her. "You know they will try even harder to kill us if we go that way. If we don't play along." She gestured down at her injured leg, "And having me along like this isn't exactly gonna help."

"As opposed to what's happening now? Them picking us off as we run like lemmings? Killing us is killing us. Might as well try to stop this." Rose picked up Jenny's weapon and handed it to her as she came to stand beside her, "And I wouldn't -dream- of leaving you behind. From what I've heard, you're still gonna be one hell of an asset. Also, your father would never forgive me." She smiled cheekily at the last statement, pleased to see Jenny smile back. A positive attitude -might- help when they were being shot at. "So, what are we waiting for? Allons-y!"

The two of them fought their way through the forest, as it became apparent that they were rebelling, the attacks became much more frequent and brutal. They were both sporting some nasty energy burns by the time they reached a wall. How strange. It seemed this entire place was indoors. They stood by the door and looked at the security panel. Rose chewed on her lip as she tried to figure out how to open it without her sonic screwdriver. At this moment she really hated the Master. Crazy wanker.

Jenny put her hand on Rose's shoulder and asked, "Let me try?"

Rose nodded and happily stepped aside, taking up a guarding position as Jenny worked at the panel. It was only a moment and the door slid open. Good thing the girl seemed to have inherited her father's brain, Rose thought to herself. "Brilliant! Let's go."

They moved through the halls carefully, keeping a look out for resistance that never seemed to come. Rose paused and gestured for Jenny to stop, she had felt something. Something that felt very off. It was elusive, the feeling had brushed her mind and then she had lost it. She looked at Jenny's curious face and asked, "Do you feel anything weird about this place?"

Jenny raised her eyebrows, "You mean aside from the energy sucking computers and survival courses?"

"Energy sucking? What do you mean?"

Jenny shrugged, "That's why I came here. Heard rumors of this place. They kidnap people traveling. Snatch homeless people off of planets and use 'em up like batteries. I was trying to investigate, got caught and put into a program. Got out of that and then they put me down there." She took the opportunity of their stopping to lean back against the wall, resting her injured leg. "I wasn't able to find out much. Just that."

Rose contemplated that, a theory forming in her mind. "Of course. He couldn't just pull the TARDIS here, so he kept you. Knowing that eventually she would come for you. That's why they kept you in that bloody jungle so long. You're the bait." She turned and started back the way they had come, looking for an area that they had already passed. She stopped in front of the doors leading to a small hangar bay. The doors slid opened and they walked inside, past several different ship models.

Jenny stopped by one and put her hand out, patting it. Rose looked at the ship, more strange coincidence flooding her mind. Jenny smiled and said, "Never thought I'd see her again. She's a…"

"Chulla warship." Rose interrupted; smiling what Jenny thought was a very odd smile. "That is almost too much. Really." She smiled as she thought of Jack, and of her past self meeting him in this very ship. Timey wimey indeed. Rose shook her head, snapping out of her musings and pointed at the ship. "You should get out of here."

"I can't just leave." Jenny looked at her in shock.

Rose insistently nodded, "Yes you can, and you should. Things are gonna get ugly. And…" Her voice took on a strange far off quality as she trailed off a moment, her eyes almost glazed over. She continued her thought and Jenny took a slight step back in alarm, Rose's eyes had taken on a slight glow, and Jenny felt a strangeness about her, something that she couldn't explain, something that echoed in a part of her soul that she didn't really understand. "You have places to go. Lots of running to do. This isn't the right time. He has tried to change things again." Rose blinked and the glow dimmed, she leaned tiredly against the side of the ship and looked at Jenny. "Sorry 'bout that. But seriously, this is wrong, your timelines can't cross yet. Or things will play out differently, and that's how paradoxes happen."

Jenny looked at Rose for a long moment, and finally nodded. "All right then. I'll go. I am going to see you again?"

"Of course, I still owe you that explanation." Rose smiled at her, regretting that this had to play out this way. Part of her wanted to give Jenny a heads up about one Captain Jack, but she couldn't screw with the timelines any more than the Master already had.

"Well, come inside the ship for a moment, get healed up." The ship opened for Jenny and Rose followed her in, the familiar glow of the nanobots mending her skin.

Rose pulled Jenny into a hug, "It was great to meet you Jenny,"

Jenny hugged her back and smiled ruefully, "Yeah, I was a real delight."

Rose laughed and shook her head. She turned and left the ship, Jenny following her to the entrance. Rose turned back, "See you around, yeah?"

"You know it. You've still got some serious explaining to do. See you around… mum." With that she grinned and retreated into the ship. Rose stood back as it took off, sad to be on her own, but happy to know that if they got out of this unscathed, they would see Jenny again. She knew that the Doctor was gonna be thrilled to know that his daughter was alive. And knowing about a connection to Jack was going to be a lot of fun to tease him about.

First things first though, she needed to find the Doctor. And stop the Master. And probably save the universe or something…

Fantastic.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's note: **Ok, been a whole week since updating, sorry, vacation in the wilds with way less internet access than I am used to. Thank you so much for reading, and thanks to everyone who reviewed. Really is totally awesome to know that people are enjoying the story. It should be close to over, and yet the characters seem to have different ideas and I think a few chapters yet will be forthcoming. I also have a sequel in mind, maybe. Enjoy!

I don't own Doctor Who in this universe, but in the next one over, it's a totally different story.

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><p><strong>Chapter 18<strong>

Amy was worried about the Doctor. She had seen him in various states of upset in their time together, but recently had been a whole new experience. His already mercurial mood swings had sped up enough to give her whiplash. They needed to find Rose, get out of this, and try to return some sort of sense of order to life. Because this was bloody exhausting. She had never thought to feel that way.

Maybe marriage was making her boring.

She realized that she had lagged a little behind and hurried to catch up with the others. As she rushed past the line of unconscious people she shuddered a little. She understood the Doctor's reasons for leaving them that way for the time being, but it still made her feel creeped out, and more than a little guilty to do so. She turned the corner ahead and stopped, not seeing Rory or the Doctor. She backtracked; retracing her steps and knew without a doubt that that was the direction they had gone in. They just weren't there anymore.

She stood there, alone except for the people hooked up to the machines and wondered what in the bloody hell she was supposed to do now.

* * *

><p>Rose stood outside of what she was reasonably sure was a control room. She thought that she had made pretty good sense of the schematics she had found and this should definitely be it. She didn't sense the Master behind the doors, his wrongness was an unmistakable buzzing in her head, and she was pretty sure that she would know if he was in there. She decided that it must be whatever staff he had running the facility. He was definitely here somewhere, and she knew that a confrontation was inevitable, but for now she had decided that her priority was to stop the killing in the sublevels. That had to end immediately.<p>

With that determination in mind, she hit the door control and had her weapon leveled as the doors slid open, revealing a control room, banks of electronic components lined the walls, two workstations stood in the center of the room, and at the two work stations stood two people. A man and a woman, and she was pretty sure that they were human. It always saddened her more than a little to see the things her people were willing to do to each other. Honestly it was no more than many other species, just hit a bit closer to home.

She gestured sharply with the weapon as the man started to move quickly for a monitor in the corner, probably to set off some kind of alert, "I really wouldn't if I were you."

He stopped, holding his hands out in front of him. She gestured for him to rejoin the woman and he moved slowly to do so. Satisfied, Rose said, "Now, I am in charge of this situation, don't do anything stupid and we'll all be fine. Here's what we're gonna do first. You are gonna stop the programs running downstairs. The survival courses. Now."

The two technicians looked at each other and then at her and the woman spoke, "We don't have a way to do that. It's not in our control."

"Well, figure out a way. You look pretty bright. For you to be working here instead of hooked up out there, I'm guessing you must be worth your boss keeping around. I know he isn't the type to be overly merciful." Rose watched them deliberate between themselves and she gestured impatiently with the gun, "Well, com'n then, be quick about it."

The man sneered slightly, "We know who you came here with. You aren't going to shoot us."

Rose raised her eyebrows and tilted her head slightly at him, "Really? You know all that do you? Well, you might want to be rethinking what you know. Cause if that were a universal truth, I wouldn't be holding a gun on you at all would I?" She watched as he seemed to consider her words, and she continued, "You might be right, I might not be willing to kill you if it came to that. Or I might, what you are doing here is wrong. I'm guessing no one here really wants to find out how far I'll go."

"We are just following orders."

Rose scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Right then, you just lost permission to speak. Lady, think of a way to shut off the droids that are down there killing people. I am getting impatient." As she was talking to the woman, the man had gone for the alarm again, and without hesitation Rose shot him in the leg. "Seriously? I might not be willing to kill you, but I wouldn't be carrying this if I weren't willing to use it. Stop being daft."

The man rolled on the ground gasping at the pain and he looked at Rose accusingly, "I can't believe you shot me!'

"Believe it, and believe that I'll do worse. Might not want to kill you myself, but I have a feeling that there are going to be a lot of pissed off people once we let all of your victims go. Cooperate, and I'll see that you get out of here. I think that's more than fair."

The woman still standing at the console looked at Rose for a moment and then nodded, ignoring the glares of her coworker she said, "I have an idea."

Rose smiled tiredly and stepped over to look at what the woman was proposing, "Brilliant, I knew you looked smart. Let's do this then."

* * *

><p>Amy wandered the halls, trying to make sure that she didn't backtrack. There was no way of knowing exactly how far she had gone, or even what floor she was on. The halls seemed to run in a honeycomb pattern that had ramps instead of lifts and stairs, and the grade of the incline was so subtle at times that she hardly noticed. She was sure that she was going down at least. Well, pretty sure. She had entered an area that was not lined with the dreaming, and she was grateful beyond expression for that. She heard voices up ahead and the sound of weapons fire, she started running in the direction it had seemed to come from and slowed as she spied an opened door ahead. She listened for a moment and was incredibly relieved to hear Rose speaking, and another woman's voice that she didn't recognize. They were talking about electro magnetic fields or something like that.<p>

She stepped into the opened doorway and Rose lifted her gun, training it on Amy before recognition took hold and Rose smiled, "My God, I've been so worried!" She stepped away from the woman and past a man who was tied up on the floor. Rose slowed to a stop and looked from the doorway behind Amy to look her in the eyes, her expression concerned, "But where's the Doctor? And Rory?"

Amy shook her head, the situation threatening to catch up with her and cause her to panic, "I don't know. I fell behind, and then they were just gone. I've been wandering for ages. We were looking for you. This place is insane."

Rose nodded and put a hand out to Amy's shoulder in comfort. She opened her mouth to speak, but turned away from Amy and back to the other woman as she said, "It's ready." Rose squeezed Amy's arm before turning to the computer console and nodding at the woman standing there. The woman hit a button and the lights flickered, going completely out for a moment, and then coming back on, much dimmer than before.

The woman smiled, and indicated to her screen, "It worked. It fried all the electrical components from this floor down. No more droids, and, well," She looked up at the dimmed lights, "the lights seem to be on back up power now, but it worked."

"Fantastic." Rose smiled back at the woman and hit a couple of commands on the console in front of her. "Now we need to turn off the drug feed, and I think we should send out a signal to the authorities. See that these people are taken care of. And, as promised, get you out of here. There's a whole bay of ships out there. You can take your pick." She slipped a small item from the computer into her pocket and picked up her gun. "All right then, let's go. You want to help your friend there along?"

Amy watched as the technician that Rose had been working with stepped over to the man who was tied up on the ground, it looked like he had been bound with electrical cords. Amy found that kind of funny almost… the absurdity of this situation really just kept on ramping up. The two of them stood and Rose and Amy followed them out of the door, Amy glanced at Rose's face and saw that the confident smile she had been wearing a moment ago had disappeared as soon as the others weren't looking at her. She looked tired, and scared.

* * *

><p>Rose could sense Amy's gaze, and knew that her own face was probably betraying her worry. She couldn't feel the Master here anymore. And she was worried that by delaying to rescue the people here, that she had somehow enabled him to escape. And the fact that the Doctor and Rory were MIA as well was upsetting to say the least. She knew that the Doctor could take care of himself, but she worried anyway. The circumstances here were far from ordinary. She thought about trying to sense the TARDIS, see if it was near, but this was hardly the time to invite the uncertainty that was Bad Wolf. She had Amy to look after and the Doctor to find. She doubted that either of them would appreciate her thinking of them in those terms, and that thought made her smile a little. After being almost emotionally dead for so long, it was interesting to have almost Doctor worthy mood swings. Interesting, and not really all that pleasant. She sighed, and was relieved when they got to the hangar bay and she could focus on something other than her own thoughts.<p>

They escorted the two technicians to a small ship and watched them take off, the sounds of chaos echoing as the people in the space station came awake. The authorities would be here soon, and it would be a good idea to be gone. Rose and Amy started to walk back into the corridor off of the hangar bay, but stopped when a frizzy haired woman appeared from the shadows, Rose kept herself in a wary posture, but Amy almost fell in her rush forward to hug the unfamiliar woman. Rose watched as the woman patted Amy's back and then pulled away from her, stepping forward and holding out a hand to Rose, "Hello darling, I think this is the first time you've met me. I'm River Song. And I think it's about time we got out of here."

Rose shook her hand and smiled nervously, River Song was quite a mystery, and one that worried her a bit. Made her unsure of where she stood. It was good she supposed to finally meet her. River gestured for them to follow her and Rose stopped in surprise as they were led to the TARDIS. Rose looked at River curiously, "This isn't our TARDIS is it? It's from a different time?"

River looked at Rose appraisingly and nodded, "Yes, it's from a different timeline. Borrowed it to go rescue the Doctor. You could tell?" Rose nodded in the affirmative and they entered the TARDIS. She was slightly uncomfortable with how she seemed to be changing, now that she was in her correct universe. It was as if the entity that rode her needed the energy here in order to take her over completely. It scared her, both the frequency of the episodes and the residual powers she seemed to have even when not directly possessed. She wondered how much of her would be left by the end of this, and for the first time a small part of her mind answered her question, startling her, 'Don't you know that I am you at the same time that I am more?'

Rose wasn't sure if she should be relieved or more worried that she had started to answer herself. The fact that she could feel the amusement in that corner of her mind at that thought didn't help.

River moved to the console as Amy sat in the jumpseat. Rose hovered by the doors and looked around, another remodel it seemed. She moved slowly into the room and watched as River expertly manipulated the controls. She brushed a hand against the coral, pleased when the TARDIS responded with a flickering of the lights and a brush of welcome like butterfly wings against her mind. She sat next to Amy and watched River fly a moment before asking, "You know how to fly the TARDIS?" She almost winced at the stupidity of that question, -obviously- the woman knew how to fly the TARDIS.

* * *

><p>River looked at her with her lip quirked in amusement for a moment before answering, "Yes, taught by the best." River watched as Rose bit her lip, obviously speculating on the possible relationship between River and the Doctor, then she put the poor girl out of her misery, "That would be you, by the way." She watched as Rose digested that, impressed by her lack of expressive response. Amy looked more surprised, tossing glances between the two of them, obviously trying to speculate what connection linked them each other and to the Doctor.<p>

Rose sat for a while, deep in thought, and River had turned back to the controls and was guiding them through the vortex, aiming for the place she knew the Doctor to be. She debated on how much to tell Rose and Amy, and ended up deciding that at this point it would be best to simply let things take their course. Her getting them here would be enough, she could tell that Rose was nearing the point where she would need to make some decisions about the Bad Wolf. River had not realized that things would progress so quickly, the Master's interference had certainly altered the cadence of things. She would need to stay close, be there to make sure that things went the way that they needed to.

River had reached for the stabilizers as they came in for a landing and was startled to find Rose already there, reaching for the button with a confused and frightened look on her face, like she wasn't quite sure what she was doing. River smiled at her in what she hoped was a reassuring manner and nodded, "Stabilizers. Or as the Doctor likes to call them, boring-ers."

Rose smiled at that, rolling her eyes a little and River was reassured. She needed Rose to keep strong through this, the pace had picked up and Rose needed to keep up. Or things would really go to hell.

Fast.

* * *

><p>The Doctor felt like an idiot. He could not believe he had let this situation reach this point. He looked over at the unconscious form of Rory, and felt the TARDIS's pain as she followed the direction of the Master at her controls. The Doctor and Rory were in a cell, an area of the TARDIS that did not get much use thankfully. He wondered what had become of Amy, and he was determinedly trying -not- to think of the fact that he had been separated from Rose once again. He sighed and pushed himself to his feet, pacing the length and breadth of the cell, even though he was well aware that it was impossible to escape from.<p>

Rory was still unconscious and the Doctor was starting to worry about that when the outer doors beyond the cell opened and the smarmy current face of the Master entered the room. He stood there, his hands in his pockets as he smirked at the Doctor. They stood that way for some time, measuring gazes locked on each other before the Master broke the silence. "Will she come for you, do you think? Vortex girl?"

The Doctor found it disconcerting that things had shifted in such a way, that the Master would be asking about, even trying to draw in a companion over the Doctor. The order of the universe seemed to have shifted very far indeed. Was it ego that made him feel that so keenly? He supposed it was possible. Hubris of the Time Lords. The Doctor shook his head in answer, "You took the TARDIS. How is she supposed to follow us?"

"You still see her as human, don't you? Underestimating her. That's sad, considering how much she loves you. I could see all that, while she was with me. It was etched on her soul plain as day." The Master took a step closer to the cell, secure in the knowledge that his captives couldn't get out. "But what's -really- interesting is you. The way you react to her. You honestly love her don't you? This girl you still think of as merely human?" He shook his head with an insolent smile on his face, obviously trying to get a rise out of the other man.

The Doctor refused to rise to the bait, trying once again in vain to reach this man, the only other of his kind. "Please let me help you. The drums are gone, aren't they? We can fix what is wrong with you, I know it."

The Master threw his head back and laughed, the insanity not diminished in the least by the loss of the pounding rhythm in his head. "You are going to fix me? Think all I need is a -doctor-?" He asked with a sneer. He shook his head, continuing before the Doctor had a chance to even decide if he wanted to answer that. "-She- will come. That is what I need. She calls to me almost as strongly as the drums did. My blood knows that she is the answer. It's only a matter of time."

The Doctor worried about the almost reverent way the Master referred to Rose, but before he had a chance to respond, the Master had turned and left the room. The Doctor stood there, deep in thought until he was startled to awareness by something brushing at the corner of his consciousness. It was almost like the feeling of the TARDIS communicating with him, and yet… it was different. Before he had time to wonder too much he felt his stomach seem to drop out from under him as the world shifted and he was suddenly afloat, or well, his mind was. He knew that his feet were still firmly planted where he had left them.

He didn't have much time to wonder before a world materialized around him. It looked familiar and he realized that it was familiar. It was the park outside of the Powell estate, the park where he had taken the readings that day, the day of the Cybermen… not a happy memory. He looked around the park, not surprised that it was deserted. Then it was as if his awareness shifted just slightly and he realized that he was being watched. She was there. Rose. Only, it wasn't really her he realized as he took a step towards her, it was the Bad Wolf. He came up short and stared. She was wearing the same clothes she had been wearing that day, the day on the game station when his ninth self had died. And her eyes… he could see all of time in her eyes, and he found that he couldn't really meet her gaze for long. He instead took in her face, her hair, realizing that her hair was different. Well, he had of course realized that her hair was darker, but it was just dawning on him that that was just a small representation of all that was different.

Bad Wolf/Rose chuckled and the sound was eerie, almost like nails down a chalkboard in it's strangeness. The echoey quality continuing as she spoke, "How like a man. Just noticing that I quit coloring my hair?" She moved to a bench and sat, reclining on it with one leg tucked underneath her and her body angled to the side so she could face him as he sat nervously next to her. She smiled at him and waved her hand, her appearance wavering for a moment before settling into what he realized Rose was like now. Her hair a dark blonde, nearly brown and her clothing a bit more understated. Slacks and a blue long sleeved shirt. Her make up was lighter as well. She looked more grown up he realized. Confident and capable. Jack had been right, as had the Master. He still apparently thought of her as a teenager, needing to be protected. This powerful being in front of him didn't need him in the least.

"Well, that's simply not true I will always need my Doctor." Rose said with a slight smile, she had read his thoughts he realized. She smiled wider, "Well, we are in -your- mind after all. Would be hard not to." Her smile faltered slightly and she sighed, reaching out to touch his hand, "As much as I love to tease you, time is of the essence here." Her hand dropped back to her side and she looked at him closely, "I have to ask, why haven't you done it yet? Used the device John left you?"

The Doctor reached out and recaptured her hand, looking her in the eye, braving the timelessness there, "I wanted to ask you… her… Rose. It seemed like she should have something to say about it."

Rose smiled brilliantly and he found himself unable to not smile back. She leaned in and placed a kiss on the corner of his mouth, "That is lovely. That you would -finally- be asking her to be involved in a decision like that. Really." She sat back and put her free hand up to grasp his hand between both of hers as she looked at him earnestly, "However, in this instance, you really need to go ahead and do it. There is information in there that you need in order to face what is coming. I will understand."

He looked at her for a moment and then asked, "Are you her? You refer to yourself as both her and not, which is it? And you said that you didn't know what it was. The device."

Bad Wolf smiled enigmatically at him and he thought for a moment that she wouldn't answer. She surprised him by speaking. "I am Rose, I am also the Bad Wolf. We are the same, yet more. Rose will still be Rose even when we are fully integrated. We want the same things. I am only a separate consciousness until she doesn't need me anymore. Until then, I control the wolf; keep her in check until Rose can do it herself. I also know more than Rose believes herself to know at this point." Her eyes went out of focus for a moment and then she met his gaze again, "Rose doesn't understand this. She worries that I will push her aside, and so she fights me."

The Doctor nodded thoughtfully, he had worried about that himself, and he had sensed the undercurrent of unease when Rose would mention the Bad Wolf. "How are you here, talking to me? Rose is back on that space station, isn't she?"

"She is on her way to you. And I am able to be here because I am not -only- born of Rose Tyler. Two powerful forces wanted to save you that day."

"You mean the TARDIS? She wanted to save me? What do you mean by two powerful forces?" He frowned, not understanding.

Rose sighed and shifted in her seat, pulling both legs up underneath her. She pushed her hair behind her ears and turned to look at him. "Did you never wonder why Rose held the Vortex for as long as she did with no ill effects and yet just the act of taking it in and then releasing it killed you within moments?" She searched the Doctor's expression and then shook her head with a small smile, "My Doctor, missing the obvious."

She had said that with such affection that the Doctor had a hard time being offended. He reached out and took her left hand in his, contemplating what she had said as he looked down at the rings on her hand. He shook his head and looked up to meet her eyes, "I'm afraid that I still don't understand. Rose is fantastic, but a powerful force? On par with the time vortex? She's human."

"Yes she is, definitely human. She was a powerful force because of her feelings. She looked into the vortex, became a goddess for all intents and purposes, and yet her entire goal was one of love and compassion. We wanted to save our Doctor, but saving you is not the act of one day. We saw all, we saw what would come, what had been, what could be." She smiled at him and he was unnerved by the knowing, almost cunning quality of it. That was not a look he would associate with Rose and it looked disturbingly out of place on her face. He saw in that what it would mean if someone other than Rose, someone even like himself had taken on that power. He shuddered, remembering the Time Lord victorious. Rose nodded, "I see that you understand a little. The Bad wolf exists, -I- exist, to save you Doctor. Created by love and desperation, and allowed to continue existing as such, because, well, the Doctor needs his Rose."

The Doctor frowned at the last part of her statement, "What do you mean, allowed to exist?"

Rose shook her head and smiled, a knowing smile, yes, but lacking in that calculating quality that had so unnerved him. "We have tarried too long here already Doctor. I was only supposed to tell you that you needed to go ahead and do it." She reached out and brushed her fingers over his cheek, then stood. "I will be with you soon, we are on our way." She took a step away from the bench and the Doctor stood, reaching out to stop her, wanting more answers. He was disappointed but not truly surprised when his hand closed on empty air.


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's note: **Thank you so much for reading, and thanks again for the awesome reviews. I know that things are a bit confusing right now, but hopefully all will start to make sense soon.

I do own this laptop, I do not own what I am using it to write about.

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><p><strong>Chapter 19<strong>

The 'boring-ers' really had made quite a difference Rose thought as they landed smoothly, it was almost a let down, felt like they shouldn't really have moved even. She moved to look at the view screen, trying to see where they were. She was trying pretty hard not to think of the fact that she had instinctively reached for that switch, not even one she had seen the Doctor use. She brushed her fingers against the console as she moved, feeling the reassuring presence of the TARDIS against her mind. She paused at that, wondering at the fact that the TARDIS didn't seem alarmed by what was happening to her in the least. That had to be good, didn't it? Somewhat mollified she continued towards the screen, her momentary lapse apparently unnoticed by Amy and River.

River had moved to another area of the console and was busy looking busy as she surreptitiously observed Rose, something had shifted there, she just didn't know what yet. Hopefully it was a good something. She stepped over to stand by Rose and nodded at the screen, "Amy will recognize this place. We were here not too long ago."

Amy had stood and wandered over at River's comments and looked at the screen with a frown. "Not the most pleasant place from the past then."

Rose looked from one to the other of them then back at the screen, "So what's the plan? The TARDIS isn't here."

River nodded, "Not yet it isn't. We have a little bit of time. She's just giving us a lift, then she'll head back to her own time." She moved towards the doors, grabbing her jacket from the rail and slipping it on as she went. She looked back at the others and frowned at what they were wearing, they weren't going to be too comfortable. She walked back towards them debating for a moment before saying, "Alright you two, I am going to go get you some clothes more suitable for the weather, don't wander around please. Spoilers."

They watched River leave the room and then looked at each other nervously. They were both acting on mainly adrenaline right now, worry about the Doctor and Rory heavy on their minds. Amy sagged tiredly back into the jumpseat as Rose moved over to the TARDIS controls, looking down at the blue stabilizer switch and chewing on her lower lip. She was jarred out of her contemplation by River walking back into the room and tossing a coat at her. She caught it and looked at it for a moment before putting it on. She stretched her arms out in it and pondered the fact that it fit perfectly. She dismissed that line of thought and zipped it closed as she turned to watch Amy pulling on a pair of snow pants. Rose grinned at the picture she made all bundled up like that.

Amy caught her smiling, and stuck her tongue out at Rose before throwing a glare at River, "Why doesn't she have to wear snow pants? I look like a toddler."

River smiled at her, refraining from answering. "Come along ladies. I think we are all anxious to be done here."

The three of them left the TARDIS and Amy was secretly glad to have on the snowsuit, "Sheesh, it's freezing out here!"

Rose nodded in agreement and pulled the collar of her jacket up, hunching her shoulders. She pulled the TARDIS doors shut behind her and took a quick startled step away from it as it immediately started to dematerialize. "That's new isn't it? Flying by herself?" River smiled enigmatically and didn't answer, causing Rose to roll her eyes. They moved farther out into the clearing they had landed in and moved towards the stone structure ahead. Rose thought it odd that in her long life she had actually never been to Stonehenge.

She probably would have chosen a time with warmth and sunshine, as opposed to a snowstorm in the middle of the night. And preferably not while waiting to see if she was going to be able to save the man she loved from the clutches of a psychopathic madman. And she likely would forgo the company of someone who knew way more about her future than she was comfortable with. Spoilers indeed.

A picnic maybe; that would be brilliant.

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><p>Amy was looking at Rose's face wondering what she was thinking as different expressions chased themselves across her features. She was quieter about it then the Doctor, but they shared the same sense of… ramble-eyness. They were following River, apparently planning to take shelter from the storm among the rocks while they waited for whatever was going to happen next. She stepped closer to Rose, "What were you thinking about just then?"<p>

Rose looked sideways at Amy and smiled slightly, "Honestly, I was thinking that it would be lovely to come to a place like this for a picnic or something sometime, as opposed to the usual dire situations. I was also thinking temperate weather would sure be a nice thing to experience." As she said that last bit she shoved her hands deeper into her pockets like she thought that would help keep them warm. Wasn't really working.

"Yeah, weather does seem to not be cooperating with us lately." They had reached the rocks and Amy was grateful to be standing out of the wind at least. She looked at River who was checking her watch. "So what now?"

River looked up at her and smiled, "Now, we wait."

* * *

><p>The Doctor stood for a moment, expecting the park to dissolve around him. He tapped his fingers against his legs in impatience, wondering why he still seemed to be here. He had thought that once Bad Wolf left him; he would be back in the cell. Then he would be able to act, to plan.<p>

But he was still stuck here.

He blew out a breath in frustration and spun on his heel, turning back to the bench and sitting down heavily. The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out what he thought was the package Rose had given him, but instead it was the package Jack had stopped by to give him. Had that only been days ago? It certainly felt like more time than that had passed. He set that package on the bench beside him and reached into his pocket again, this time his fingers closed on what he was looking for and he pulled it out and looked at it for a moment.

He contemplated the device and ran his fingers over the markings, idly wondering what he needed to do to leave this blasted park. Figuring that it was better than just sitting there waiting for something to happen he decided to try activating it here, in his head. He set his fingers in the appropriate place and was satisfied with the clicking noise as it opened. He waited a beat and nothing seemed to have happened. Not really so strange he considered, he needed to be outside of his mind and do this physically.

"We-ell, this isn't where -I- would have chosen for a meeting." The Doctor sat up straight at that voice and turned, seeing his tenth self standing there, hands in the pockets of his pinstriped suit as he looked around. 'John' turned to look at the Doctor and smiled, "New new face, eh? Well, new new new new new new new new new new new face. How'd it happen this time?" He rocked back on his heels and then took a couple of steps over to join the Doctor on the bench, still looking at him quizzically.

"Radiation." The Doctor answered, nodding in agreement with the wince on John's face. Not a pleasant way to go. "How exactly is this happening? I mean… I haven't activated the device out there yet." He tilted his head, indicating the real world and wondering why he thought the other him would have an answer that he didn't.

John smiled cheekily, "I'm guessing the Master would take umbrage at you fiddling around with it where he could see it. Here is safer. We can have a nice chat and no chance of interruptions." His smile widened, "Well, with the two of us being the ones dong the talking, I'm guessing we won't need outside help on the interruption front."

The Doctor just looked at himself, "So this is distinctly odd. Why do you look like that?" He was thinking of the fact that John looked just like he remembered him. Looked like himself. The Doctor's eyes darted down to his hand and he was puzzled to not see a wedding ring there.

"I look like what you remember me as. I'm guessing your mind subconsciously rebelled a bit at thinking of me how I looked when I actually set up this little tete-a-tete. Never a pleasant thing to face ones own mortality. You know, I wondered if you would have regenerated by the time she found you; probably for the best, that. I have to ask, how long did she wait?"

Faced with a question like that from what was essentially himself, but at the same time wasn't, the Doctor was unsure of how to answer him. He opened his mouth to speak then closed it with a snap. He was speechless. That never happened. He looked sideways at John and then tried again to speak, "She said, um, she said that you died almost a year ago."

John had watched the Doctor's internal struggle with some amusement and smiled slightly at his eventual answer. "You know, I wasn't asking because I'm jealous or any nonsense like that. Well, maybe a little, not jealous exactly… But, it is nice to know she didn't just rush off. Although, I'm pretty definitely sure that I told her to get on with it."

"I don't think she cares too much for us ordering her about."

"Too right that. Good that you've finally caught on to that fact. I have to admit, took me a bit. Thick I am, me." He reached up and tugged at his ear as he shifted in his seat. "So, on with this then. I feel a bit like the ghost of Christmas past here." John leaned forward then, lifting an eyebrow in question as his hands hovered over the Doctor's face.

The Doctor nodded his acceptance and John closed his eyes as he set his hands onto the Doctor's temples, bringing their minds together. The first thing the Doctor was aware of was the quiet. There was a lot less background noise in John's head than there was in his own. It was quite peaceful actually. He waited as John sorted through what was going to be shown to him, and he felt his eyebrows lift at the scene that was materializing in front of him.

It was River. She was walking up to John's desk in what looked like a classroom of some sort. He saw John look up in surprise, and put down the pen he was holding. The Doctor looked away from River and focused on John, it was indeed shocking, seeing himself as an older man. His hair was gray and the Doctor could make out bifocal lenses in his glasses. The Doctor moved closer and couldn't stop the morbid fascination he had with his own face aged that way. He shouldn't have been so surprised, he had seen himself falsely aged during the year that never was, but this was different. Those lines were put there by experience. He imagined the happy memories behind the laugh lines, happy memories with Rose.

He finally forced himself to remember why he was here, and the fact that River really shouldn't be. He looked at her as she reached John and sat down across from him. The Doctor stopped right by them and leaned on the edge of the desk, preparing to listen to the conversation.

John took off his glasses and held them in one hand as he stared at her. "Professor Song? How exactly…"

River interrupted him with a smile that the Doctor was all too familiar with, one that said you might as well not ask questions, because she had already decided exactly what information you were going to get. Incredibly annoying, that smile. "Hello sweetie, don't worry about the how's. I am here to explain the why's."

"I got the impression when we met before that you generally weren't too keen on explanations." He had an eyebrow cocked and his head tilted to the side as he made that observation.

"Oh, I'm not, generally. Can't be helped in this instance though. The Doctor, constantly throwing us for a loop. Doing the unexpected, and honestly being rather frustrating."

John had leaned back in his seat and the Doctor noticed with a start that he was seated in a wheelchair. He stared, almost missing John's question. "Well, what's he done now?" The Doctor looked at him sharply, that wasn't a very nice way to put things, it wasn't like he was constantly mucking about getting into trouble… well, maybe not constantly, anyway.

River shook her head, "You already know what I'm talking about. You just need to think about it. It really was the last thing we expected him to do."

"You keep saying 'we' and 'us', is that like royal we, or are you actually working with someone?" He looked at her and rolled his eyes when it was clear she wasn't going to answer. He seemed to think about her statement for a moment, a sad look coming over his face. "You mean leaving her here don't you? Rose."

"It was unexpected. You were lost without her, and then she surmounted impossible odds to get back to your side, and he just refuses to cooperate."

John looked at her thoughtfully, "Well, I was surprised too. I can't say now that I am completely sad to have the woman I love with me, but… Well… He didn't know about…None of us realized what had happened." He tapped his fingers on the desk for a moment and then asked, "But why does that matter to you?"

The Doctor thought that was a great question, he looked at River, waiting for her answer.

River sighed and smiled slightly, the smile lacked a lot of the mysteriousness that the Doctor had come to associate with her, and he felt his pulse quicken with the realization that he was finally going to get answers; maybe even find out the answer to the entire mystery that was River Song. She looked John in the eye for a moment and then leaned back in her chair, apparently settling in for a decent explanation. "Well, darling, when an incredibly powerful entity is created, one with the power to control time and matter and basically everything, do you honestly believe that no one takes notice of that?"

The Doctor noted that John looked kind of daft at the moment. He was blinking stupidly, and the Doctor was glad that no one could tell that the look on his own face probably matched it. Honestly, how had he never considered that? Well, it was because he had fixed the situation immediately. Or he thought he had. Recent events did seem to indicate otherwise. John finally seemed to have recovered his powers of speech. Impressive that, knocking the gob off of his tenth self, even briefly. "But I took it out of her. She's safe now."

"You honestly believe that? Deep down? You think accidental immortality was the only side effect?"

John seemed to be trying to believe that it was, but he closed his eyes briefly in defeat and shook his head. "No, I guess I don't. Not really." He looked at River sharply then, and the Doctor realized at rather the same time that River was possibly a threat to Rose. Because the kind of powers that would take notice of Bad Wolf were likely to be dangerous, and not too terribly concerned with one human life. "But I certainly don't believe Rose is a threat. Why are you here?"

The Doctor saw more than simple fear in that statement, he realized then that he had not only hurt Rose by leaving the two of them there together. To leave another man, with the enormity of his feelings for Rose, and without the means to protect her… And then to see himself losing even what small abilities he had to age… That was truly terrible.

River leaned forward with a gentle smile; she seemed to sense John's sudden wariness and was trying to put him at ease. "Come now Doctor, if I was simply here to hurt your Rose, I certainly wouldn't here talking to you about it." She watched him digest that and continued her explanation, "I am not going to lie to you, there was certainly talk of a swift end to the situation. Fortunately though, calmer minds prevailed. We decided to watch, see what would happen. The actions she took when at the height of her powers were not those born of someone corrupted or power hungry. And when Bad Wolf became dormant, the urgency of the situation lessened, and that allowed more time for observation." She leaned back again, tapping her fingers on the arm of her chair for a moment before going on. "And of course, there are other reasons to make sure Rose remains alive."

"If she is so dangerous, why haven't there been any indications? The only thing that is changed in her is the fact that she can't die. Wouldn't there be other signs?" The Doctor nodded at John's question. It was interesting he thought, that the powers really hadn't started to manifest until recently. He wondered if it had something to do with which universe she was in. That was confirmed when John went on, and the Doctor was impressed with his quick thinking. Was that pompous of him? Possibly… "Unless it's because of the energy here… Like the TARDIS, not being able to process it."

"That would be the basics of it, yes." River nodded at him, then she went further. "And for the brief time she was still in your universe, it was too early. She had already begun the process of changing herself, to hold the vortex for as long as she did, but further changes would take quite a lot of time."

John stared at her a moment, "All of this, it doesn't answer the question of who or what you are. Or the question of what you are doing here for that matter."

River nodded slowly, "Let's just call me an interested party."

"I don't think so, that doesn't add up really. Well, not entirely anyway. Doesn't account for your universe hopping. Or your sudden desire to explain things."

"Well, as for explaining things, I am still keeping the 'other you' quite in the dark. And as for the rest… What good is considering your society above an entire plane of existence if that plane of existence is in danger of imminently imploding or something?" River smiled and it had that ironic quality that most of her expressions did.

John was looking at her thoughtfully, and then he shook his head. "You can't be an eternal. I saw you… I saw…"

"You saw me die?" She grinned at him, "Honestly Doctor, you of all people should know how deceptive something like that can be."

"But you, but you're… I mean the way you -acted-… You made it seem like…"

River let out a throaty laugh and John was just staring at her, the Doctor as well was feeling rather dumfounded. Of all the speculating and agonizing he had done over the mystery that was River Song… This was simply unprecedented in it's strangeness. River was actually wiping her eyes, as her laughter trailed off, "Really sweetie, you are just so fun to tease." She relaxed into her seat, a wide smile still on her face, "I'm afraid I just can't help myself."

John was simply staring at her, apparently as flummoxed as the Doctor felt right now looking in on this conversation. He stared at her as she made that startling statement. Eternals were supposed to be rather unimaginative. He had always thought of them as pretty stale underneath all of that power that they had. River certainly broke the mold. Apparently he wasn't the only renegade among a race of relative sticks in the mud.

River smiled again and said, "Now, as for exactly what I am doing here. One," She held up her hand, like she was ticking off items on a list, "I am here to tell you that Rose has to go back." Seeing the look on his face River shook her head sharply, "Oh I don't mean now. I just mean that you need to set things up so that she goes back… After… Well, she really -needs- to go back… Two, I am here to make sure that there is some kind of back up plan in place. Once she got back, things were supposed to progress slowly enough that she could come to terms with the power safely, and things would work out swimmingly. There was however… Well, a wrench thrown in the works, and the Doctor needs to have access to this information since things play out in such a way that he will need to be updated quickly. And three, apparently I am supposed to be here explaining things to this version of yourself. It's bloody confusing, the constant state of almost paradox that surrounds you, you know."

John sat for awhile, processing her words. He opened a desk drawer and pulled out a slim bottle of whiskey. He poured himself a small drink and raising an eyebrow at River offered her one as well. When they were both sitting with a drink, he was staring down into his glass when he suddenly looked up with his eyes slightly narrowed. "You said if you were 'simply' here to hurt Rose. It's still a possibility, isn't it?"

The two of them shared a long look, and River had opened her mouth to answer when the memory started to fade.


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's note: **So I am sorry for the lengthy time between updates here, and for the shortness of this chapter. I had the unfortunate experience of sad mac face, or well, not really as I run OS X, but I remember the sad face as being cute in it's tragedy so I am choosing to remember that instead of the resounding -nothing- I got instead. Lost all of the chapters I had stored up. :( Cobbled this together and decided I should post -something-. Typing furiously on my shiny new hard drive. Hope to have some story built up soon. Will try not to post too terribly slowly now. As always, hope you all enjoy, and thank you for reviewing those of you who do.

I don't own Doctor Who. Just my quasi broken laptop.

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><p><strong>Chapter 20<strong>

The Doctor jerked away from his tenth self on the bench and glared at him. "You seriously had to end it -there-?"

John smiled wryly and sat back. His appearance had changed slightly the Doctor noticed. He was wearing the sweater vest and bifocal lenses that he had worn in the memory. The Doctor glanced down and saw the gold of his wedding band glinting dully in the sun. The Doctor wondered idly if those were changes that he had made or that John had made.

John shook his head, "I'm sorry, I didn't choose when to edit that. And as I'm not really here, any cosmetic changes are your own doing." He looked down at himself, lifting his legs and twirling his feet around on the end of his ankles. "Gotta admit I don't mind it though, this is nice."

The Doctor watched him for a while and then said, "You aren't here, but you notice the difference?"

"Well, I might not really be here, but this is an imprint of my consciousness. Confusing I know. Glad it's not me dealing with it." He smiled at the Doctor and then sobered, settling back into the seriousness of the situation. "Two other things aside from that bit of memory that I am supposed to make sure you leave here knowing. Some language skills, apparently River embedded that into the memory somehow. And there is some other artifact that you have on you now, that is going to be useful in getting out of your current situation."

"And what about where that left off? Is Rose in danger?" The Doctor looked at John, and was disappointed but not really surprised when he shook his head, indicating that he couldn't say anything else about that. They sat for a moment longer before the Doctor spoke, "I have to admit that this isn't really what I expected when Rose handed me your package."

John looked at him with sympathy evident on his face, "I know. Sorry about that. Really." He looked him in the eye for another moment before sighing. "This is that too if you want it though." John stood and paced back and forth a couple of times in front of the bench before continuing. "I can tell that you hesitated, and honestly, I hesitated too before including the rest. I know what you gave me." He looked up, meeting the Doctor's eyes; he pulled off the glasses and held them in one hand, flicking the ear pieces open and shut as he spoke. "You gave me a life, with the woman we both love. And it was brilliant. Really. And it's all here if you want it." He sat back down and crossed his legs at the ankles, staring at his feet briefly before looking back up at the Doctor. "Want some free advice Doctor?"

The Doctor looked at John. At the man who had lived the life he was so jealous of. The one adventure he had thought he would never get to have. "What's that?"

"Well, what I would suggest is that you make your own memories. Getting past all of our collective issues and finding happiness… That was fantastic. And you might want to make those memories for yourself. Not that I'll stop you doing otherwise, but really, it'd be brilliant." John uncrossed his ankles and crossed them the other way, staring off at the park, watching a swing move slightly in the breeze. He seemed to be trying to leave the Doctor to make his decision in peace.

They sat that way for several moments before the Doctor leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hand. He looked sideways at his clone and asked, "Any other words of wisdom before I go?"

John looked at him with his lip quirked in amusement, "Well, I could offer you some fashion advice. What does Rose think of the bow tie?"

The Doctor drew himself up in mock offense, "Excuse me, bow ties are -cool-."

"Well, I suppose it is better than decorative celery." John stood then, and turned to look back at the Doctor where he sat on the bench. "Do something for me?" The Doctor nodded and John grinned, "Have a fantastic life. For both of us."

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><p>Rose was feeling rather jealous of Amy's snow pants. They were huddled together with one of the stones blocking them from the wind. River was a few feet away from them; she was fiddling with what looked like a vortex manipulator on her wrist. Rose wanted to ask how much longer it would be, but she didn't want to seem weak or impatient in front of River. She got the impression that she knew River in the future, maybe they were even friends, but for the present, River still made her rather nervous. And it was creepy that Rose kept almost catching the woman watching her. Like she was waiting for something.<p>

She moved her hands from her jeans pockets to the pockets of the coat she was wearing, hoping for at least a little more warmth. She raised her eyebrows as she realized that the pockets were bigger on the inside. She reached around a bit, hoping that if her theories on this being a jacket belonging to a future her were correct that there would be… She let out a relieved breath and grinned as she felt her hands close on a familiar feeling metal cylinder, she pulled it out of the pocket and smiled like an idiot at the sonic screwdriver she was holding. She actually came very close to kissing it or something in her excitement, god she had missed her sonic.

Amy watched Rose with quite a bit of amusement as the woman almost looked ready to jump up and down in excitement over a sonic screwdriver. She met Rose's eyes and smiled ruefully, struck again with how alike Rose and the Doctor could be. She stood carefully, secretly glad for the snow suit she was wearing and moved to stand by River, leaving Rose to familiarize herself with the settings on her newly found tool. "So, River, how much longer, then?"

River looked up and smiled at Amy, rolling her eyes as she noticed what Rose was up to. She looked back to Amy, "Not long now, honestly. Our ride is nearly here."

"Our ride? I thought this was where Rory and the Doctor were gonna be? What's going on?"

"Well, it's complicated Amy."

"Complicated?" Rose had joined them without being noticed, moving to stand next to Amy, an annoyed look on her face. "I understand that you need to preserve the timeline, although you being here at all would seem to be in direct contradiction of that, but honestly, this is getting ridiculous."

River looked at Rose with a smile and it was obvious to Amy that Rose was less than impressed. Rose opened her mouth to say something and River interrupted her, "I am here to help. Not to interfere… Exactly." River was looking at Rose like she was waiting for something. And Amy thought it odd that River would be interrupting Rose when it was obvious that she was waiting for Rose to say something.

Apparently Rose was less then impressed. She frowned at River and then shook her head, "Fine, whatever. What are we expecting to happen here then? Anything? You did actually have a way for us to get to them when you brought us here?" Rose had stepped closer to River and Amy was almost worried that the two women would come to blows. She remembered being concerned at the Doctor's extra emotional actions when he was worried about Rose, there was something almost worse about the way was Rose was reacting now. She thought that it might be the fact that there was something untested about Rose's anger. The Doctor was frightening when he was angry, Amy was reminded of seeing him trying to ineffectually physically beat a dalek that time during world war two, he was scary for the near loss of control he could exhibit. But with Rose, it was like there wasn't that level of control to begin with. She was like an unknown commodity, and it was almost terrifying.

Rose was standing there facing River and she could feel the power surging through her veins as she thought of the Doctor in danger. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she felt a near loss of control. This was really not the time she thought. The Bad Wolf had no place in this. She needed to be in control of herself, not subject to the whims of another entity. When she opened her eyes she noticed River watching her closely and expectantly, and it felt like something in her just snapped. She snarled, "What is it? Why do you keep looking at me that way?"

River was looking at Rose with a distinct lack of concern, on the contrary she seemed to be almost pleased with how things were going.

Amy took a step away from them, the air pressure seemed to have intensified and she was looking at Rose in alarm, Rory had told her a little about Bad Wolf, but it had seemed to make him almost uncomfortable. Amy could definitely see why. Rose had almost started to glow, the furious look in her eyes intensified by the golden sparkle that had appeared there. River, being either brave or stupid, maybe both had continued talking to Rose in a low murmur. Amy couldn't make out most of it, but River seemed to be outlining the danger that the Doctor and Rory faced at the hands of the Master.

Amy watched as the light around Rose almost seemed impossibly to be intensifying, her face covered in tear tracks as she reached her hands up to grasp her head. Rose cried out, the words "My head!" being the only ones Amy could make out in the anguished sound.

The temperature seemed to drop and there was a stillness before there was nothing at all.


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's note:** So, there are really not enough reasons to justify the huge length of time between updates here. All I can say is that real life just genuinely sucks sometimes. Between work, hospital visits, and my disillusionment at the recent season of Doctor Who... well... there aren't any more words.

Thank you so much for reading the story, and thank you to those of you who take the time to review. This story is only a couple of chapters from being over and I have already started on a sequel, hopefully there are still people wanting to read it after waiting so long for a new chapter. Should be updating weekly again now, enjoy. :)

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><p><strong>Chapter 21<strong>

When Amy came to, she was face down in the dark. She leaned up, wiping a hand across her cheek and realized that her face had been shoved up against the grated floor for some time if the imprint she could feel on her cheek was any clue. She blinked groggily and felt around in the dark, she seemed to be in some type of storage room judging by what she could feel. It was so dark though that what she felt was all she had to go by. She turned her head quickly towards some rustling coming from somewhere to her right and whispered, "Rose? River?" She moved slightly in that direction, wincing slightly as she toppled over what felt like a large pile of chopsticks or something.

"Amy?" River's voice could be made out over the din as things settled to a stop. "Have you seen… well, have you -heard- Rose?"

Amy started to shake her head no, and then remembered that obviously that wouldn't work in the pitch dark. She cleared her throat, "No, I just woke up. Do you know where we are? What happened?"

River could be heard moving around a bit and then Amy blinked rapidly as a light shone from the direction River's voice had been coming from. She put up a hand to shade her eyes and let the world come back into focus. Definitely a storeroom, and she almost felt… No, that was really not possible. "Are we on the TARDIS? Is that even possible?"

"I would think that by now Amy, you would be used to impossible things." River stood carefully and looked around, holding the light out. "We need to find Rose."

"You didn't answer my question you know. What happened?" Amy had stood on wobbly legs and followed behind River as they navigated the room carefully. She wished the light River had was brighter, it barely illuminated the area directly around them. She noticed that River still didn't seem inclined to answer her and huffed slightly. They moved slowly through the room and Amy was really starting to feel her curiosity over what had happened being overshadowed by concern. It was really odd that she and River had apparently transported so close to each other and yet Rose didn't seem to be anywhere. She was about to ask what River thought had happened to her when she heard retching coming from somewhere to her right. River had apparently heard it as well and turned in that direction, with Amy following close on her heels.

Rose was sitting on her knees, leaning forward and panting slightly, her hair was hanging down obscuring her face from Amy's view. River had stopped a few steps away from Rose and held out her arm as Amy tried to move around her to Rose's side. She looked at River in question but River was focused on Rose.

River held out the light at the end of her hand, and asked in a low voice, "Rose?"

Rose looked up at them and Amy swallowed a gasp as she saw her face, Rose had a luminescence to her skin that was definitely not a reflection of River's flash light, and her eyes seemed suffused with a golden glow. It was incredibly unnerving, but what was even more unnerving was her expression. She had tear tracks down her cheeks that seemed to sparkle and her face was contorted in fear and possibly pain. Amy shoved past River's arm to step over to Rose and kneel carefully by her, avoiding the vomit and drawing Rose further from it as well. She brushed Rose's hair back from her face and looked to River, pleased to see that she had come closer as well.

"We are on the TARDIS." Rose's voice seemed to echo slightly, to have a quality to it that seemed both old and at the same time ageless. She had made that a statement, not a question, but Amy nodded anyway, hoping to encourage Rose to explain what was wrong. "I did that. How did I do that? It isn't supposed to be me. It isn't supposed to be me that can do those things. I can still feel it." Her voice lost that eternal quality and seemed to gain a level of panic as her words tumbled out of her mouth. She closed her eyes at that and took a deep breath, the glow of her skin dimmed as she seemed to be trying to calm herself.

River moved to kneel by them on the floor, and reached out a tentative hand, taking Rose's in her own. "Rose, it's always been you. You simply had to protect yourself from that, but it's all right. You can learn to control it."

Rose opened her eyes and met River's gaze, the light in her eyes had settled until it was simply a spattering of gold swirling in the brown of her irises. "I think the sick you just knelt in would suggest otherwise."

River smiled and Amy could detect the relief inherent in the expression as she answered, "Well, considering your connection to the TARDIS, being able to travel to her this way is not a surprising ability, taking two of us along with you might have been a bit much for your first trip."

Rose smiled back weakly and took another breath, she considered River thoughtfully for a moment before speaking again. "Feels different though… I think. I still don't quite remember all of it. And I don't think I could simply reduce the Master to dust."

"Well, most of that excess power was syphoned off."

"So it was." Rose said with a wince, remembering how her Doctor had sacrificed himself for her. Sighing heavily, Rose levered herself to her feet, going in stages, leaning for a moment with her hands on her knees before standing fully. She took a deep breath and smiled at Amy in what she hoped was a reassuring manner, "Let's go get our boys back, yeah?"

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><p>Rory had woken with a start, noticing rather quickly that he was no longer walking down a hallway; he was instead lying sprawled on the floor in a small room. He sat up slowly and looked around. The Doctor was standing near the opening to the room facing away from him, his hands resting at his sides. When Rory stood shakily and approached him he reached out a hand, hissing and pulling his hand back as he hit some sort of force field. He carefully leaned around and looked at the Doctor's face and knew that things were even worse than he had realized. The Doctor had a vacant look on his face, his jaw slack and his eyes open and glazed over. Leaning over and avoiding the force field he waved his hand in front of the Doctor's face, worried more when there was no response. He tapped him on the shoulder and let out a yelp as the Doctor toppled over to the floor, narrowly avoiding hitting his head on the corner of the small cot.<p>

Rory knelt by his side and rolled him over, feeling pretty bad for upsetting the Doctor's balance. He pulled him over on his back and was looking at his wide staring eyes trying to decide what to do when the Doctor let out a loud gasp and shot up, knocking his head hard against Rory's, resulting in the both of them sitting and grasping their heads for a moment. The Doctor took a deep breath and looked at Rory from under his bangs, "Nice to see you up and about Rory." He bounced up to a standing position and rocked back and forth on his heels for a moment looking out into the room beyond the cell. After a minute of contemplating he swung back around to look at Rory again, opening his mouth to speak and then closing it and pacing the length and breadth of the room and muttering softly to himself.

As Rory watched the Doctor's restlessness he sighed and got to his feet, moving over to the cot and sitting down. He decided to interrupt the Doctor's musings, "Do you know where we are? I don't remember what happened."

"We are on the TARDIS Rory. As for how we got here, well, best to say that I wasn't paying attention as I should have been." The Doctor stopped and tilted his head to the side like he was listening to something Rory couldn't hear. He moved quickly to sit next to Rory, when he spoke again his voice was decidedly more positive. "I think things are about to get interesting Roranicus."

The Doctor watched with approval as Rory took that statement in stride and leaned back next to him. Rory was a good sort, solid and dependable. He felt the difference in the atmosphere that he had come to associate with River, and he knew that Bad Wolf had said that Rose was on her way. He still had a lot of questions, and quite a lot of worry for Rose, but for now he knew that all he could do was sit back and wait. The events playing out had that sense about them, that feeling of a fixed point in time. He wondered if the Master could feel it as well, or if the madness had completely clouded his senses. He left off wondering as the outer doors of the room opened, he felt his breath leave him as he took in the scene before him.

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><p>Amy felt more and more out of her depth as she followed Rose down the TARDIS corridors. River walked beside her and they both followed Rose closely; the TARDIS seemed to be cooperating with them, that or Rose just knew exactly were they were going. And about Rose… it had seemed for a moment in that storage room like Rose was almost back to normal, but the farther into the TARDIS they went, the closer to the coming confrontation they seemed to get, the farther from normal Rose got. The level of her detachment seemed to be somehow related to the amount of golden light she was generating. And both of those things seemed to be directly related to her alienness, and to the discomfort Amy felt at being so near her, it was like a crawling sensation at the back of her neck, some primitive instinct that something was not right.<p>

Amy stole an occasional glance at River, trying to see if she felt the same way, but while River certainly seemed to be watching Rose closely, she didn't seem too terribly worried at what she was seeing. The whole situation was just too weird, that coupled with her worry over Rory and the Doctor, and Rose for that matter all came together to make her extremely uneasy. As they turned down a corridor that was rather dark the light emanating from Rose seemed to increase until it was almost hard to look at her, she seemed to almost float across the ground in front of them and Amy felt another pang of fear for Rose as the strangeness struck her.

Rose was rather unaware of the turmoil she was causing, she felt, if anything, numb. Which was interesting considering the circumstances. She wondered if perhaps the Bad Wolf was protecting her from her distress at the situation. That would make a certain amount of sense. If, as she was coming to believe more and more often lately, Bad Wolf was actually a part of her, something that was borne out of the need of the situation she had been in then it could be something along the lines of multiple personality disorder. Maybe the thought that she was some sort of crazy should not be comforting, but it was better than the thought that she was about to be completely eclipsed by another entity. Rose felt herself carried along the corridors and was vaguely aware of where they were going; she felt the comforting presence of the TARDIS at the back of her consciousness and knew that things were going to be all right. She felt without a doubt that the events she was so blissfully floating towards were fixed, were already decided and had possibly already happened.

Wibbly wobbly and all that.

She felt her arm lift slightly and the door in front of her slid open, and her heart flipped happily in her chest at the sight of the Doctor and Rory sitting there waiting for her.


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's note: **Thank you so much for reading and for the awesome reviews. Happy to know that people are enjoying the story. I plan to be wrapping this story up in another week.

I forgot to mention my lack of ownership in the last chapter, apologies to anyone who might have thought that I suddenly owned the rights to Doctor Who. Sadly, dreams don't come true, so I will keep on writing fanfiction. Yay. I own nothing. Really.

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><p><strong>Chapter 22<strong>

The Doctor stood slowly and watched as Rose entered the room followed closely by River and Amy. He slowly approached the energy field separating them and felt the change in the air as it dropped. He stepped through and came to a stop just in front of her, looking into her eyes in concern, "Rose?" He lifted a hand to brush the backs of his fingers against her glowing cheek.

Rose shut her eyes and leaned her face into his touch, remaining still for a moment before opening her eyes again and smiling slightly. Looking into her eyes and the timelessness they held he wasn't really surprised by her answer, "Very nearly Doctor. I promise." She straightened and moved away from him, leaving him to drop his hand and stuff them deeply into his pockets as he watched her and waited for whatever was about to happen. It was a strange position for him to be in, waiting for things to happen instead of causing them.

He was pretty sure he didn't like it.

The Doctor dragged his gaze from Rose to look at River, meeting her eyes and seeing the knowledge in them. She knew that he was aware of her reason for being here, and that he still considered her something of a threat. As they looked at each other they each understood, that she didn't want to have to be a threat, that she was hoping to prevent that, and that if she was unable to, that the Doctor would fight it with every fiber of his being. Even knowing full well that he would lose.

He could not bear the thought of being left without Rose again, not after so much, after so many times of choosing what he thought was the greater good over his happiness. He was rather sure that he wouldn't survive that again. River had said in the memory that the Doctor needed his Rose, and that was certainly true. He knew that the Time Lord Victorious was something that would never have happened if he had Rose by his side to temper his ego. Donna had been more right than she knew when she had told him that he needed someone with him to make sure he knew when to stop, and Rose had been the one to bring him to the point where that was even possible. Better to come to an end in the act of holding on to love as hard as he could. Surely he deserved some measure of happiness after all he had done, all he had given up? Surely the universe wouldn't pull the rug out from under him again?

He was sure that River could see all of those thoughts, and probably more going through him in the moment that their eyes met, and he got the sense that she even approved. It really would be interesting to sit down after all of this and have a straightforward chat. He was going to have to do his best to make sure she stuck around for that.

Both River and the Doctor were dragged from their contemplation of each other as the Master came into the room, looking at Rose with eyes that didn't seem to even be aware of the others, the reverent quality in his voice was deeply disturbing to the Doctor as he said, "You came, I knew that you would come. And now you will make things better, you will bring this wretched existence to an end."

Bad Wolf smiled at him and looked almost benevolent and she answered, "Yes, things will be brought to an end very soon." She turned from him to look at the Doctor and held out her hand to him.

The Doctor, not sure how he knew it was what she wanted pulled out the artifact that had come through the rift all that time ago and had brought them back together, and started to place it in her waiting hand. He paused before letting go and asked cautiously, "What are you going to do to him?"

She smiled at him knowingly, "Don't worry my Doctor, no one dies here today. Today, just this once, everyone lives." He smiled back at her as she echoed his words from so long ago and let go, trusting her and knowing that honestly, this situation was already over. The sense of time being locked into place, of the inevitability of things was still so overwhelmingly strong that it almost made his head ache to be in the middle of it. Like his subconscious was trying to tell him not to interfere. Rude of it really, his subconscious, he didn't interfere -that- much.

She nodded as he placed the device in her hand and started to turn back to the Master, turning back to the Doctor as he interrupted once more, "You know what it says?" The script shimmering across the metal was the same as that featured in the cave paintings and he found himself able to read it as he looked at it. The words 'Bad Wolf' repeated themselves in ever changing patterns as he watched. They seemed to be reacting to her energy, shifting and swirling like liquid gold around the small box.

Bad Wolf smiled wryly, "I create myself." Seeming to find that a sufficient answer she turned to the Master and the words seemed to be moving so fast that they were no longer distinguishable as words, even to one who could read them. There was a small clicking noise as the box slid open and a cloud of vapor drifted out of it to coalesce in the air briefly before enveloping the Master. As the group watched he was lifted slightly into the air and seemed to almost panic for a moment before he dropped suddenly to the ground, changed in that instant to a young boy.

The Doctor frowned as he looked down at the unconscious boy, but before he could question Rose, he felt the unmistakable sensation of the TARDIS in flight. She was taking them somewhere. He stepped over to the child and knelt down, looking at him for a moment before looking back up at the Bad Wolf. "I don't understand."

As she opened her mouth to speak there was a strange shifting sensation and the Doctor found himself in the console room, still kneeling by the prone boy and looking up at his Rose. He glanced around quickly and confirmed that they were alone. He looked back at her as he heard her voice, "My last act before I am no more. Rose has already started on the path to learning control, and you will have to help her. As with most things, it will not be easy. And as for this…" She trailed off as the TARDIS landed and she stepped towards the doors, gesturing for the Doctor to bring the boy and follow her.

The two of them stepped from the TARDIS doors onto what looked like an endless stretch of desert. The Doctor stood for a moment staring at the swirling storm the engulfed the sky around them and let what was happening sink in. He looked at Rose in some disbelief. "The Silver Devastation? This is really what I think it is, isn't it?"

Bad Wolf inclined her head and took a step towards him, closing the distance between them and slipping the antique watch over the boy's head. She took him from the Doctor and laid him gently down, pausing to whisper something into his ear before standing beside the Doctor again. "I know what you are thinking Doctor. You are thinking of all of the pain left ahead for him to cause." She turned to look up at him and he saw the part of Bad Wolf that was pure Rose Tyler, that part of her that had ensured her survival, that was created from compassion and love, peering out at him from those fathomless eyes, "Think instead of all of the good that he has yet to do. Professor Yana ensured the survival of life past what appeared to be the end of things. He ensures that the unending cycle continues." She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, "It is time for me to go now I think." She looked at him again and reached up a hand to brush his hair back off of his forehead. "Let's try this without burning you this time, yeah?" With those words she closed her eyes and exhaled heavily.

As the Doctor watched, the swirling gold of the time vortex drifted almost lazily out of her, like it might be sorry to have to leave. The shimmering air hovered and danced around the two of them for what seemed like an eternity, but what his sense of time said was in reality mere milliseconds, before shooting suddenly past them into the TARDIS and what he presumed was back to her heart.

The Doctor impressed himself by having the quickness and presence of mind to catch Rose as she collapsed beside him, like a marionette whose strings had been suddenly cut. Holding her tightly against him he reentered the TARDIS and shut the doors, glancing at the console in surprise as she once again started to pilot herself away. He approached the controls, and deciding not to bother interfering, detoured to the jumpseat, sitting there with Rose cradled against his chest.

He couldn't resist thinking that the TARDIS was showing off a bit as she executed a perfectly smooth landing once again, and he didn't miss the mental snub she shot at him as she did so. He smiled and closed his eyes, leaning his head forward to rest against Rose, inhaling the scent of her hair. Planning to rest his eyes for just a moment.

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><p>When Amy, Rory, and River found their way to the console room, with little to no help from the TARDIS, they found the Doctor and Rose sound asleep that way.<p>

River looked at them with a smile of satisfaction and then looked up at Amy and Rory, winking cheekily before hitting a button on her vortex manipulator and blinking out of existence. Amy and Rory stood staring at the spot she had occupied briefly before rolling their eyes at each other and linking hands as they walked back through the suddenly cooperative corridors of the TARDIS to their room.


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's note: **All right, this is it, the last chapter of this story, and pretty much complete fluff. Thank you so very much for reading this story, I hope you all have enjoyed reading it half as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I also hope you all take a moment to let me know your thoughts, and I am also open to suggestions on the sequel that I have already begun writing. Should start posting that in a couple of weeks. Thanks bunches to those of you who have followed and or favorited and or reviewed. It's always a boost to creativity to get those email alerts and read your kind words.

I own nothing. Or well, very little. If I ever become the owner of Doctor Who, you will all know because I will have retconned this story into reality. Totally.

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><p><strong>Chapter 23<strong>

**(Epilogue, sort of)**

The Doctor and Rose were in the console room, and the Doctor was dancing around the controls, hitting buttons and twirling dials as usual. Rose was smiling gently at him as she felt the TARDIS's amused tolerance for him.

She knew he was excited about something; he had woken her relatively early, pounding on her door and announcing he had a surprise for her and that she should dress for warm weather.

Amy and Rory had left the TARDIS the day before, having requested some 'alone time' back at home, Rose had gotten the distinct impression that the actual reason was that they were trying to provide said 'alone time' for herself and the Doctor instead. It was very sweet of them and she was disinclined to complain.

She watched the Doctor's manic movements around the console and took a drink of her tea, she pulled one of her legs up underneath her and leaned back in the jumpseat, grasping the armrest as they landed without the use of the boringers. As they jostled to a stop the Doctor turned to her and grinned, "Well Rose Tyler, are you ready?"

He bounded over to her and came to a stop in front of the seat she was on, taking the teacup from her hand and setting it down on the console. He tuned back to her and held out a hand, still grinning, Rose couldn't resist mailing right back at him as she reached up and took his hand, letting him pull her to her feet.

They stood like that for a moment, a step apart, facing each other with their hands linked. The moment stretched out around them and finally Rose broke it, clearing her throat softly before speaking, "As ready as I'm going to be I guess. Unless you want to give me a clue that is?"

He shook his head, causing his hair to flop back and forth a bit and Rose brought her free hand up to brush it back off of his forehead. He smiled down at her as he grabbed her hand, now clasping both of them against his chest. "Well then, shall we?"

He gave her hands a squeeze and dropped one of them as he swung around towards the doors. He walked briskly down the stairs tugging her along behind him and stooped briefly to pick up something with his free hand. Peeking around him, Rose saw that it looked like a basket of some sort and lifted an eyebrow as she wondered what he was up to.

They reached the doors he looked at her and grinned again, "Rose Tyler, would you do the honors?" She smiled and reached forward to open the doors, looking out and seeing a somewhat familiar sight. She stepped out ahead of him; their hands still linked and looked around, "Stonehenge?"

"Ah, but not -just- Stonehenge Rose, this is Stonehenge on a lovely spring day, before tourists and with the only alien activity in the area being… well, us." He gestured grandly and held out the basket as Rose stood there smiling at him. "You know what this means Rose?"

"That you brought me to temperate weather for a picnic that involves no running for our lives?" Rose took a step closer to him and asked in a conspiratorial whisper, "Doctor, where did you get such a radical idea?"

The Doctor looked at her almost suspiciously for a beat and then smiled somewhat sheepishly, "Well, Amy might have mentioned that you might like something like this sometime… As opposed to me showing you your planet being demolished. She also might have yelled at me, using very mean words when she found out that the first place I took you was to see that. I can be a bit daft, me…" The Doctor trailed off then held out the basket again, "So, good idea?"

Rose reached up and opened the basket, peeking inside and pulling a blanket from it, she looked back inside and whistled softly, "That's quite a lot of bananas… Of course, bananas are good." She looked up at him as she shook out the blanket and let it drift to the ground, "And so is this. Very brilliant, and sweet." She stood on tiptoe and kissed him lightly on the jaw before sitting down and patting the blanket next to her. "Do you own many things that -aren't- TARDIS blue?"

He sat down next to her and looked at the blue checks of the blanket, "Well, it is an excellent color." The Doctor smiled as she nodded in agreement and pulled out a banana for each of them, handing hers over and stretching his legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles.

He looked at Rose out of the corner of his eye, noting that in the sunlight her hair still seemed blonde in some areas. Acting on impulse he reached out a hand and held a lock of it between his fingers, noting the silky texture.

Rose had turned her head towards him and was smiling softly when she rather suddenly turned a bit serious and asked, "Doctor, when are we exactly?"

The Doctor frowned slightly, that wasn't what he had expected her to say, he let go of her hair and looked at her face, worried he had done something to make her nervous. "Well, we are well before this became a tourist attraction. Other than that, I left it up to the TARDIS. Why? Is everything all right?" As he tried to catch her eye he noticed that she was actually looking over his shoulder and that the look on her face was somewhat incredulous.

"This was a sacred religious site, yes?" At the Doctor's nod she continued, "And I'm guessing ancient druids wouldn't like casual picnickers hanging about their sacred religious areas."

The Doctor finally turned, half convinced she was having him on and saw what had caused the sudden shift in mood. He stood, carefully pulling his jacket straight and squinting his eyes to take in the advancing mob, considering how best to talk their way out of this situation. He noticed Rose moving around, picking up the basket and tugging on the blanket, making him step off of it as she gathered it up and tossing it over her shoulder.

That done she looked up at him and said, "Might I make a suggestion Doctor?"

Looking at the familiar smile on her face as it was turned up to him the Doctor smiled back at her and answered, "Run for our lives?"

Rose nodded and her smile widened, her tongue briefly catching between her teeth, "My thoughts exactly."

The Doctor felt his grin widen and reaching out he found her free hand with his and laughing the two of them turned and bolted for the TARDIS, they reached it just in time as an arrow whizzed by and embedded itself in the wooden door. The Doctor snapped his fingers, causing the doors to swing wide and the two of them ran inside without breaking stride, he snapped again and as the doors shut the two of them came to a stop, falling together to sit on the stairs to the console. Still laughing they looked at each other and laughed harder.

Finally the Doctor stood slowly and stepping up to the controls, sent them drifting in the vortex. When he turned back to Rose she was standing near him, her back to the railing, still smiling gently. He tilted his head to the side and looked at her for a moment before speaking, "Well, that didn't go exactly like I planned."

Rose shook her head and took a step forward, "Doctor, it went exactly as it should have." She reached up and put a hand on his shoulder and laughed again as 'In the Mood' started playing in the console room. She tilted her head and held out her other hand, "I think someone might be trying to tell us something. Still got the moves?"

The Doctor took her hand and spun her smoothly around smiling, "Well, I wouldn't want to boast."

Laughing Rose spun, following the Doctor's lead as they danced around the console, "No, of course you wouldn't."


End file.
